Same, old, love story
by Marmellatamae
Summary: Padmé is the perfect student. Anakin has a twisted sense of math. Obi-Wan teaches philosophy and he would be perfectly happy if it wasn't for Anakin. "Now I get it" announced Ahsoka: "You got the poor girl pregnant, and you have to marry her tonight" "You got me" Anakin retorted "and you are so not invited, so please go". COMPLETE, but there is a sequel!
1. Chapter 1

**Exams**

She looks at her reflection in the mirror and tries to smile to herself. She looks tired and thin but she hasn't slept all night and she doesn't even remember the last time she ate.

_I won't fail, I won't fail, I won't fail.._

Of course she won't. She never fails exams and she has studied hard. She is brilliant, and brave and nothing can stop her - she repeats that to herself, as a mantra. She knows all the codes, the doctrine, the rhetoric.

She won't fail.

When he finally gets up, he is already late. He has an exam in one hour, but it takes him fifty-five minutes to get to the university. _Man_, he is not used to it. And what's the point in having a math exam if he knows he can do it? Whatever. He gets on some clothes and rushes out of the common dormitory, because for some fucking reasons he cares. It probably has to do with Olin's face and his posh attitude and his conviction that he is better than Anakin. Fuck the idiot. _I'm better than him, _he tells himself, gritting his teeth.

Padmé is in front of the class, repeating to herself all the codes she has to know by heart. She doesn't want to fail and for sure she doesn't want to be second to any male student, this time. She is well aware that the world out there is tougher for women than it is for men and she doesn't want to score second, not this time.

She also thinks that she is not as brilliant as other students are. But she studies more –she is more determinate, passionate, dedicated.

Anakin has to run to make to the class on time, and he is sweating when professor Dooku greets him. He feels eyes on him and he knows for sure that his classmates are commenting on the conditions of his grey shirt and on the fact that he is generally a mess. So messy, so gross, so vulgar. _Such a fucking immigrant _he thinks angrily to himself, taking a seat in the first row.

She feels her heart race when she sits and she is almost running out of breath. She doesn't know anything anymore and she is pretty sure she is going to mix up Intergalactic code number 456 with the Intergalactic code number 465. She is panicking, she does not feel her hands anymore. _She won't fail. _She can't.

"Ready in five minutes" the professor announces.

Padmé takes deep breath, trying to calm herself. She recites the nine fundamental amendments just to calm herself.

"Ok" says professor Satine Kryze "You may turn your sheet and start"

The room fills with the sound of thirty students turning a paper. Padmé turns hers –her hand is trembling a little.

"What's this stink?" the guy next to him asks aloud. Anakin hears laughter behind him, and fights hard the urge to kill the fucking idiot. He doesn't smell, he knows it. He is just not all dress up for a fucking exam and he lives in the suburbia –so yes, it took him a lot of time to get to the university and yes, it was hot outside so he was sweating a little.

"Skywalker! They do have showers where you live, don't they?" the guy addresses him, pretending genuine interest.

"Sometimes" Anakin retorts quickly "But we also have a lot of funny things that may amuse a little fag like yourself".

Anakin takes an immense amount of pleasure in seeing the boy's smile fade a little.

"Boys!" Professor Dooku shouts "You have one hour!"

Professor Dooku takes a particular pride in distributing the exam papers _after_ the hour has started. He thinks that mathematics is a subject just for the most gifted and he will fail any student that doesn't live up to his expectations.

Anakin is the last one to receive his paper and five minutes have already passed. He is almost preoccupied now.

"Skywalker" the professor whispers to him, while he turns his paper "I think you'll find the last exercise particularly interesting."

Anakin grins and looks at his exam. Three problems, one equation. The problems are a piece of cake, he could solve them blinded _and drunk_, probably. The equation, well… he licks his lips unconsciously.

Padmé knows all the answers. She knows she does and she starts writing so fast her arm aches after a while. She is not going to fail this time. No second place to Clovis, no. Particularly not after he decided to shag stupid, blonde Chuchi. She writes and writes, trying desperately to fix in a brilliant and consistent paper all the things she has learnt in the past three months.

Anakin is glaring at the sheet. There so many letters that probably Dooku was thinking about a fucking poem not about an equation when he designed it. He lifts his chin and just glares at his teacher. Dooku just smiles, conscious that even his most brilliant student has yet a lot to learn. _All right _he thinks, cancelling with a sharp line everything he has written and taking another paper to start the equation again.

They only have five minutes left, and everybody is reading their answers to check for errors. But Padmé is not, she is still writing, certain that she hasn't made any mistakes. Not this time.

Anakin is really sweating right now, but he doesn't care anymore. He has just had an intuition, and it_ seems_ to be working.

"Five minutes" Dooku announces.

_They'll be enough _Anakin thinks confidently, as he has finally seen the solution to the fucking equation.

Padmé gives her sheet one minute earlier than the delivery time. It is an old trick her dad thought her. Never let your enemy think it took you some effort to beat him. Always deliver one minute earlier. Professor Kryze nods approvingly at her.

He is the last one to consign the exam, trying to fix a polite smile on his face while he does it. He still had twenty seconds after he finished. Pleased with himself, Anakin grabs his bag and shows the guy who was seated next to him his middle finger, grinning widely. The idiot looks like the exam didn't go so well and Anakin treasures this little victory with wild joy.

Some hours later, former Senator Kryze, full professor at Coruscant University –one of the most prestigious of the galaxy- is looking at the twenty-five papers his students provided that same morning. She scrolls the familiar names and reads some lines. Chuchi is lucky her father is the richest man in the Capital and Clovis is as outstanding as always. Organa is good, his critical nature and predisposition for clear and fine thinking suiting him well in advanced law studies. He is not one for losing too much time on books tough, and he doesn't get the maximum. She opens Naberrié's exam with interest; the girl is clever and dedicated and she is studying harder than all her classmates, but she still seems a little immature and too much afraid to produce a perfect score. She has the potential tough, and Kryze is sure she will demonstrate it sooner or later. Kryze takes a sip of her tea, reading some passages of Padmé paper. The professor's smile grows wider with every word and line.

Count Dooku is one of the most renowned mathematician of his times and he knows it. He has always enjoyed the elegant, flawless passages of a demonstration and he likes to deal with concepts as absolutes as curves, functions and infinites. He was never one for the imprecise studies –never liked social sciences or biology, all crude and gross and imperfect.

He reads the papers. Almost all of his students have solved all the three problems –they are the most promising kids in the galaxy after all, the entrance test to the faculty so hard that almost nobody is accepted. But just two have tried the equation. The first is Olin, one of Dooku's favorites. Olin's reasoning is clean, conscious and precise. But still. Dooku sometimes feels that the boy's style lacks a little creativity, a little daring. He is going to do something, sure -probably he'll be a great engineer, but Dooku feels that he is not going to _surprise_. However, Olin got the solution right and Dooku gives him the maximum grade.

Then he opens Skywalker's sheet. The boy is a total mess, he considers, cursing Qui-Gon mentally. Skywalker is scruffy, crazy and confuse and all his violent personality seems to reflect on his reasoning, which is twisted and …well, original. Skywalker is almost the exact opposite of what Olin is; he is not clean, but he has a great intuition. He doesn't know what he is doing half of the times –Dooku notices it- but he is so crazy that he is almost inspiring. And he has the potential to become a great mathematician, Dooku has to concede it. Count Dooku is almost excited when he gets to the final equation, trying to follow Skywalker's twisted sense of math. After he finishes, he has to do the calculus himself twice, but he concludes that Skywalker solution is brilliant. It is complicated and Skywalker could use a little _manners_ but he got the point and solved it.

The real surprise comes when Dooku turns the page, though. Big as the entire page, written in Skywalker thin calligraphy, just a sentence: "_Go fuck yourself, I got it". _


	2. Chapter 2

_In which they meet and Obi-Wan is a philosophy professor._

**The office**

Anakin was not surprised at all when he received a formal request to go to the Principal office. Probably, professor Dooku had found his little surprise less funny than he thought. Anakin had to admit that the idea was not so brilliant as it had seemed at first, but he had gotten carried away in the moment. He had been so excited to have finally finished an entire math exam that he had just wanted to celebrate it –and probably just get on Dooku's nerves. Deep down, Anakin liked the old guy, but, _man_, he needed to get that _big stick out of his ass_.

"Anakin" a familiar voice made the boy stiffen. Speaking of taking a stick out of the ass..

"Yes professor Kenobi?" Anakin tried with his most angelic intonation, but the glare he received told him that the news had already reached Obi-Wan's ears.

"In my office" the older man said briskly. Anakin sighted and forced himself to follow his tutor in his office.

"Sit, please" Obi-Wan closed the door behind them, gesturing him to take a seat. Anakin obeyed, enjoying, almost despite himself, the reassuring smell of old books and lemon scented tea. Obi-Wan was one of the few people Anakin truly respected and he knew that the man had a soft spot for him, too. They had known each other since when Qui-Gon had found him at the Institute. But those were old times and now that Qui-Gon was gone, Anakin didn't want to remember anymore.

"So, what happened with professor Dooku?" Obi-Wan asked calmly. Anakin sighted. The young professor detected a glint of dark anger in the boy's eyes, but it lasted only a moment.

"I didn't mean to be disrespectful…" the boy started, almost complimenting himself for being able to use such a complicated word as 'disrespectful' in an actual conversation. The arched eyebrow of his tutor let him know that he was not sounding convincing.

"I mean…" the boy continued, feeling the familiar irritation starting to grow inside his stomach "I got carried away, ok? That equation was like a challenge, you know?"

Not that Obi-Wan would ever be able to understand _equations_. Qui-Gon would, but he was one of Dooku's graduates –even if he had decided to waste away a brilliant career dedicating his life to _pathetic life forms_, as Obi-Wan liked to put it.

"Anakin" Obi-Wan paused, probably looking for the right words "You have a great talent and we all esteem you" he assured slowly, conscious that Anakin had a great heart but that he was to be managed with the right words and timing, like a bomb always menacing to explode.

"But you are walking a dangerous path" he added "Dooku likes you, I can tell you this and he thinks you are brilliant-"

The boy had to fight the physical urge to roll his eyes. Not _again. _

"He thinks perfect prefect _Olin _is brilliant-" he said angrily.

"No Anakin, he thinks that _you _are brilliant and bright and probably one of the most gifted student he has ever had"

Anakin was to reply again but he fell silent, acknowledging that Obi-Wan was probably repeating the exact words Dooku had told him. He didn't know how to take compliments, especially those masked compliments that Obi-Wan used to soften Anakin's mood. Now he felt a little ashamed for having written all that shit to his teacher. He didn't deserve that. Probably. But there was really no need for another lecture about authorities and respect and the fact that university was the only thing that allowed Anakin to stay on the planet at all and all that shitty bla bla…

"But you have to be respectful of your superior, Anakin" professor Kenobi continued "You have to be careful… you are here on scholarship and you cannot afford this kind of behaviors."

The boy looked sheepish and lowered his gaze. But Obi-Wan noticed that again, that little glint, that little _something _that made him shiver. Anakin knew that the professor could always tell when he was getting upset –him and his damned philosophy and psychology PHD. He could almost hear the unspoken words between them, what Obi-Wan's disappointed and sad eyes were telling him. _After all the things Qui-Gon did for you, that is your payback? _

Anakin took a deep breath, Obi-Wan sighted.

"Promise me something, will you?"

Anakin lifted his head and nodded silently, taken a little aback.

"You'll go to Principal Yoda office"

Anakin nodded again. _Go Anakin, do this Anakin,_ _bow Anakin…_

"You will fall to your knees, plead guilty, swear you are completely crazy and ask for his kind forgiveness"

Anakin burst into laughter.

"I'm serious, young man" but Obi-Wan's eyes were bright with a repressed laugh "_And _you will let him beat you with his stick".

Anakin laughed even more. He liked Obi-Wan's strange sense of humor. It was not a _cool_ sense of humor, and sometimes it was too subtle but, well, it always made Anakin laugh. The professor felt relieved to see the boy laugh, the dangerous glint gone.

The atmosphere was much lighter and they were just chatting normally, Anakin describing with enthusiasm all the things he got to do in his part-time job as a mechanic, and Obi-Wan listening and correcting his pronunciation or grammar from time to time.

They almost didn't hear the knock on the door.

"It must be a student" murmured Obi-Wan more to himself than to Anakin and got up to go and open the door.

"Then there still _are_ philosophy students" grinned Anakin.

Obi-Wan glared at him and opened the door, stepping back to let a short girl enter.

"Professor Kenobi" she said, politely "Professor Kryze told me to come to you for my mid-term dissertation"

"Oh, Miss Naberrié, right?" Obi-Wan smiled at her "Yes, Satine told me great things about you"

She smiled back, visibly pleased and embarrassed. Then her eyes fell on Anakin. And it was like the room was suddenly very hot, and strange things started to happen to Anakin stomach. They stared at each other for one, long second. If she looked like that with clothes _on._.

"Oh, this is Anakin Skywalker," Obi-Wan said pleasantly, "Anakin, she's Padmé Naberrié, one of our best law and politics student"

Padmé blushed slightly and shook hands with Anakin, "Nice to meet you".

He just smiled, incapable of speech. She smiled back, probably thinking that he was completely crazy or simply dumb.

"Oh don't worry" said Obi-Wan jovially "Basic language skills elude him quite often".

Padmé laughed, and Anakin glared at his tutor, mouthing him a _Fuck you _while Padmé took a seat. Obi-Wan arched an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"I go to see Yoda then" announced Anakin, still glaring at Obi-Wan.

"Goodbye Padmé" he added sweetly to the girl. Obi-Wan had to bite his lower lip not to burst into a laugh. Anakin trying to sound romantic, _you should have lived to see this, Qui-Gon. _

"Oh goodbye" she answered surprised that the boy had bothered to register her name. With a last glare to his professor he left. _Holy shit_.

Padmé's eyes followed the boy exiting the door. She had never seen him before, and he seemed pretty weird_. _No wonder he studied philosophy, she considered.

"He is one of your majors, professor?" she asked timidly, still smiling to Obi-Wan.

"No, actually he studies mathematics and mechanical engineering" Obi-Wan answered kindly "and that's exactly why he has limited verbal skills"

Padmé giggled again.

"So, my dear, Satine mentioned that you want to write something on death penalty, am I right?"

"Yes, professor, I did some research and I thought it would be interesting to write an introduction about the historical and philosophical background…"

Obi-Wan nodded: "Excellent idea, I can lend you some books" he stood up to, deep in thought.

Padmé closed the door of Obi-Wan's office with a satisfied grin. Professor Kryze was right; Obi-Wan Kenobi was indeed a most kind person and a very clever man. It had been a very pleasant chat and now she just needed to go and report to professor Kryze on her dissertation. She walked through the campus, towards the law faculty. For no particular reason, she thought that it was quite flattering that the Principal's office was in the same building, as if to signal that the hers was the most important faculty. It was a beautiful day, and for a moment she closed her eyes and faced the sun taking pleasure in the warming light. For once, she was at peace with herself.

When she approached Kryze' office she noticed that a small number of her classmates were grouped in front of the professor's door. She recognized Bail's brown hair from distance; he was speaking with Dormé, gesticulating animatedly. He would become a great politician one day, Padmé was absolutely sure of that.

"Ehy guys" she greeted.

"Padmé!" Dormé hugged her "You rock, baby!" she exclaimed, pointing down to a piece of sheet attached to the professor's door. Padmé expression fell. The grades. She had completely forgotten. She looked down the list, her heart racing, looking for her name.

_Naberrié, 100/100_

Padmé's eyes widened. She had done it. She had gotten the maximum with professor Kryze. Almost nobody did, almost nobody could. She turned to face again Dormé and Bail.

"So, you happy, bitch?" asked Dormé jovially. She had gotten a seventy, which was a great result for someone who wasn't Padmé.

"We should go out and celebrate properly!" Bail commented, smiling widely to his two friends.

"Padmé" the girl felt an hand gripping gently her shoulder. She turned and her smile disappeared, while an embarrassing silence fell between her friends. Clovis.

"Rush" she greeted him coldly. He made an acknowledging gesture to Bail and Dormé, who were clearly pretending not to be there.

"May I speak to you?"

"Be my guest"

"In private?"

She shrugged, leading him down the stairs, to a deserted hallway. They were a few meters from the Principal office, she noticed distractedly.

"What do you want, Rush?"

"Padmé, I know that you are upset, and you are right-"

"You asked me out" she interrupted him furiously "…and the same evening half the faculty saw you snogging with that blonde imbecile-"

"I know, I know!" he defended himself "But we weren't really together and I think that was exactly our error-"

She stiffened "I'm not one for open relationships!"

He took a deep breath and take her hands into his, smiling sweetly at her. He was handsome and perfectly aware of it. He was brilliant and cool, with his tidy clothes and his curated hands; he was popular, much more popular than Padmé –the idealist nerd- would ever be. She felt a little taken aback by his presence.

"I know, Padmé" he breathed slowly, making eye contact and holding her a little bit closer "And you wouldn't deserve one, I was an idiot not to understand that…"

She felt herself melting and losing all her resolution. She kind of knew what he was doing. The sweet words, his calm and warm accent, his habit to invade her personal space… He did everything to make her like him. And she would be a plain idiot not to.

She turned away, trying to disentangle herself from that embrace.

"Go out with me" he said quickly "You'll see, I won't let you down again-"

"Rush.." she wasn't really sure. She wanted to accept, really. But still. He was a _bastard_ and he had gone out with half of the university already.

"You cannot think that I can feel something for Chuchi!" he exclaimed "She's just a slut!" he added, startling her.

"But you _did_ snog with her" she pointed out.

"And it was a mistake, I told you!"

Padmé lowered her gaze. Clovis had just this ability to make everything seem like he was right, and it was just _not_ his fault.

"She is an idiot, you said that yourself" he continued "I could never go out with a girl who cannot even pass Kryze's exam!"

This made something snap inside Padmé. _She hadn't? _

"What?" she asked. Could it be?

"You wouldn't believe it was possible, would you?" he sighted, as if sincerely incredulous.

"Dormé was right!" Padmé exclaimed "You _are_ a bastard!" Clovis stared at her dumbly.

Padmé felt her cheeks redden with fury and contempt "You want to go out with me only because I'm your rival now!" she accused, pushing him away.

"That's not-"

"Clovis" interrupted Padmé briskly "I say farewell to you!" she turned and started walking. _That_ probably sounded like the most ridiculous thing she had ever said aloud. And she didn't even know why she had suddenly gotten so angry, but _man_ she wanted to take him and punch him. _Probably. _

She realized after two steps that she was going towards the wrong direction, but she was still feeling Rush's eyes on her and she didn't want to look like a total idiot, so she just kept on walking, pretending to know where she was going.

That _bastard, _she reasoned again.He didn't give a fuck about Padmé, she was sure. Dormé would probably comment that yes, he was a bastard, but that she was probably exaggerating as usual. She was just being delusional again thinking that the entire galaxy had a problem with her personally. Yes –she agreed furiously with her mental image of Dormé- she was probably being paranoid. And yes, she didn't trust anybody. And yes, it was probably her dad's fault and his mannerism for justice. But Padmé didn't care. She didn't need a presumptuous boyfriend, after all. She needed to-

"Ouch!"

She had just smashed into something hard and hot. It took her a moment to realize that the something was a person and the exact same boy she had met before in professor Kenobi's office.

Anakin was going to kick the fucking idiot' ass. Then, he realized that the 'fucking idiot', who had just smashed into him, was the exact same girl that was probably going to haunt his wet dreams in the very next future.

Padmé smiled embarrassed and considered that the boy had very big, very blue eyes. Clovis's were green, she thought stupidly.

"Sorry ergh…"

"Anakin, my name's Anakin Skywalker" he said quickly "and there's nothing to be sorry about". The line sounded cheesy even to his own ears, but at least this time he was _talking_.

"Anakin, of course" she agreed politely.

"Do you want to go out with me?" the question had escaped his lips before he could physically stop it.

"What?"

He flushed a little. _Congratulations, Skywalker_. She was going to denounce him for sexual harassment now. He would lose the cause, get expelled from the university and the authorities would kick his sorry ass back to Tattoine.

He opened his mouth to say sorry and then disappear forever, but his lips didn't obey.

"I… tonight, I mean"

Padmé's eyes widened with astonishment. She was never the most popular girl and the opposite sex was never really interested in her. And now? Two guys asking her out in two minutes?

Anakin looked like he was going to vomit –he was. He was also very strange, with his washed-out jeans and his loose fit t-shirt. His hair were long and untidy and his hands seemed dirty with old stain of –was that _oil?_ But Padmé had to admit to herself that he was… hot. If you liked the type, that is. _And_ he seemed the complete opposite of Clovis. Not that she would ever go out with a boy she barely knew just because he was hot –kind of- and she wanted to show a vicious bastard that other guys could like her, too.

"Yes, sure" she answered without thinking.

"Yes?" he repeated stupidly "I mean, cool!" he looked even more surprised than she was.

"Ok then…" she repeated, nodding again and blushing several shades of red "now I've got to go!"

She started running in the direction she had come from, trying desperately not to make eye-contact with Skywalker.

"Wait!"

She turned "Text me later!" she screamed and she started running again.

"But you didn't give me your number" murmured Anakin to himself, watching his girl disappear.

Obi-Wan was not in the slightest surprised when his phone beeped, signaling him that he had received a message. Nobody sent him texts, he only received calls or e-mails; however, like almost everything in his life, the big exception was Anakin.

_-Get me her number_

Obi-Wan sighted. He really didn't want to start explaining Anakin at how many levels giving him Miss Naberrié's number was wrong –other than illegal. He almost sent him Vice-Principal Windu's number –Obi-Wan would _pay_ to see the stern man face's confronting with a text reciting _I like your boobs, love. Skywalker. _But then again Anakin would be probably expelled and all the effort he had put in keeping the boy enrolled in the university would just go bananas.

He picked up the phone and sighted again.

_-You'll be the death of me, Anakin._


	3. Chapter 3

_In which Ahsoka is not helping and Dormé and Bail know a lot about guys just like Anakin_

**Of dates and other difficult tasks**

Four hours later, Padmé had agreed to meet Anakin in front of the university at nine o'clock. But she hadn't decided how to dress, how to style her hair or if she should go at all. She hadn't told her friends, either. Who were incidentally sitting on her majestic bed, discussing politics and eating the Nubian biscuits her domestic had brought them.

"So, where are we going tonight?" Bail asked grinning to his friends. Dormé clapped her hands excitedly and started to list an infinite number of places she wanted to go to.

"And we should totally go to _the Republican_! That place is wizard and I heard that all that second year exchange students go there!"

"I cannot come" said Padmé suddenly, even if she had not decided anything yet, really.

"I have a date" she explained to the questioning looks of her friends. Maybe she shouldn't go.

Bail and Dormé exchanged a look.

"You know that Clovis is not worth it, don't you?" Dormé asked after a while, with a worried voice.

"I…" she began "I don't have a date with Clovis, he is just a _bastard_".

Dormé blinked and Bail frowned, as if to make sense of the words of a poor crazy woman who was claiming she had seen a ghost. Padmé thought that she should feel a bit offended that her friends considered such an impossibility that she might have two boys asking her out. But they were her friends and she decided to tell them everything about Anakin and how she had decided to accept to go out with him.

"Skywalker?" Dormé asked, her eyes wide.

"Why? You know him?" Padmé retorted, a little too defensively.

"No, no" was the quick answer "It's just that… well, he doesn't seem your type"

"Then, you _know_ him?" insisted Padmé, who would be glad to know something more about her date. Really. _Who_ was Anakin Skywalker? And of course Dormé knew him, Dormé knew _everybody_.

"Well, I know he is not from Coruscant" Dormé started slowly, eyeing Bail.

"So? I'm not either"

"Yes" conceded Dormé "But you come from Naboo and your dad is a diplomat. He is from some Outer-Rim, out of jurisdiction planet…"

Padmé made a dismissive gesture "As if it was a problem-"

"No, it's not" Bail intervened speaking with his soft politician-style voice. He knew Skywalker, kind of. They had played together sometimes and the guy had seemed a little competitive and quick to rage. Then again, Bail had met a lot of scientific subjects students, and Skywalker stood out for his plain normality in the crowd. Still, Skywalker and Padmé?

"Let's face it, Padmé, you never got even acquainted with anyone who wasn't from our circle"

"I don't see your point" she answered stubbornly. She _should_ go. "And stop exchanging looks! You're driving me mad!"

"Ok, don't get upset" Dormé got closer to her, putting and hand on Padmé's arm "It's just… well, he is some kind of punk from what I heard"

Padmé fell her heart sink. _Punk_?

"I mean, he is hot, hotter than most of the spoilt princes we have-" Dormé conceded.

"Ehy!"

"Of course, I'm not talking about _you_, Bail" she précised, rolling her eyes "but you must admit that Skywalker is not exactly like our most esteemed Clovis"

"Well, Clovis _is_ a vicious snake" Bail reasoned "Skywalker _cannot_ be worse".

"But why you said yes?" inquired Dormé, eyes widened with excited surprise "Because, you know, if you just did that because you were upset with Clovis.."

"Who _is_ a vicious snake" repeated Bail.

"… It's not an ethical behavior, Padmé…"

"But Skywalker _must_ be better than Clovis".

Padmé was getting annoyed with the entire conversation. She hadn't the faintest idea on why she had agreed on going out with him. She had said yes before she could reflect on the proposal. An annoying voice in the back of her head suggested that that was exactly the reason why she _should_ go. Something she hadn't rationalize, something she couldn't control.

"Poor Skywalker, deluded and broken hearted…" sighted Dormé, shaking her head a little.

"She should marry him tonight, before Clovis can find her again…" suggested Bail, who had never liked Clovis, not in the slightest.

"What your mother would say?" asked again Dormé.

"Never talked to him, but I bet Skywalker is a good fellah-" remarked Bail.

"Would you _please_ get to the point?!" Padmé hissed, her eyes narrowed with irritation.

"Well don't expect that he'll bring you to the Republican" Bail pointed out.

"And don't expect flowers and sweet words" added Dormé.

"Or a polite conversation about politics… I saw him playing… he is a little hotheaded" agreed Bail.

"He's _hot" _précised Dormé, gaining an exasperated look from both Bail and Padmé.

"And he'll probably be expecting _something _after dinner" she added, a malicious glint lighting up her eyes.

Padmé blinked.

"What?" she asked, blushing.

"Well every boy expects something…" explained Dormé as if Padmé was five and didn't know anything about sex. "But your usual boys are too polite and sly to ask it after a first date"

"That's not entirely true…" Bail protested, but Dormé just ignored him "And Skywalker probably lives in the suburbia" said Dormé, as if that explained everything. She knew she was a really bad, bad friend, but she took a great pleasure in making the most prudish part of Padmé came out.

Bail glared at her "What she's trying to say is that he may not be as well-mannered as the boys you have dated up to now"

"Yeah, thank you, but after the _first _date?"

Bail and Dormé exchanged another look.

Padmé _was_ a prude. Or better, she loved rules and rules spoke clearly about first dates.

"If you exchange one more look, I'll-" Padmé stiffened, crossing her arms, putting on the same stubborn and childish expression she had when facing a difficult exam. Things went just how the high sense of justice of Naberries thought they should.

"Well, you are two prejudiced, posh idiots and I bet Anakin is much sweeter than you two think!"

Bail made a strange noise, as if he couldn't decide between laughing and chocking to death.

Dormé shook her head "_Anakin? _So we are on first names basis already?" she asked mockingly. "He's sexy, that's generally incompatible with being _sweet_" she insisted.

Padmé wanted to slap both of her best friends, but she knew it wouldn't get her anywhere. Demonstrating that Anakin Skywalker was just the perfect gentleman would, though. And if Dormé thought that Anakin was so sexy why hadn't she just asked him out? Maybe she could go, instead of Padmé. Well, maybe not. Maybe Padmé should go out with Anakin.

One hour later she and Dormé had washed and changed. Dormé had made only two or three comments on Anakin's ass –apparently she had seen him play too- and made Padmé blush furiously only one time. Bail had respectfully left the room, even if they had known each other since kindergarten and everybody knew that he had eyes only for his Breha.

"You look good" he nodded approvingly at his friends when they finally exited Padmé's room.

"Thank you, my lord" Dormé bowed mockingly "So, here's the plan: you and me go to have a drink to _the Republican_ and you tell me everything about how much you miss Breha now she is in the exchange program"

Bail opened his mouth to protest but Dormé continued "And we wait our dear Padmé, that is _if_ she manage to stay out of Skywalker's bed".

Padmé blushed again. She was _so_ going to kill them.

"We're going out mom!" she called, crossing her living room.

"Have fun, but don't be too late" her mom called from across the room "Remember we have Senator Palpatine coming for breakfast tomorrow!"

Padmé made a dismissive gesture, even if her mom could not see her. Senators who could very well decide over her future career? She could totally manage. A date? That was entirely another matter.

Anakin was for the first time in his life very conscious about his looks. Well, that was not entirely true. He knew that he was handsome enough with his bright blue eyes and his built figure. He also knew that the girls of his block appreciated it when he wore his black leather jacket, with simple jeans and t-shirt. He knew how to charm those girls and his looks had served him right to –well, a guy needs to have fun from time to time, doesn't he?

The only problem -he reflected, looking worryingly at his ruffled and ever messy hair- was that he did not know anything about charming high-class, well-mannered and well educated girls. He was not deaf and blind, he heard all the comments the girls in the university whispered behind him; they had a lot of pretty things to say about his ass and his shoulders, true. But also a lot of things about him being poor, ruffled, horribly dressed and probably living in a filthy hole.

He sighted. _You have no chance, Skywalker, face it_. _She is playing in another league_. She was like the angels his mom spoke about when he was still a child, back on Tattooine. She seemed, well, she seemed so pure, when he was not. And her _looks_. She was short, but with a gorgeous body. She had big brown eyes that made him melt. And her hair. Anakin had never seen curls so… well curled.

He sighted and looked at himself again. He tried a tentative smile.

"You know?" A female, feisty voice said behind him "You _are_ pathetic."

"Ahsoka, nobody asked your opinion" he glared down at the girl "So please, go" he added, making a clear gesture to urge her to leave.

She just shrugged and threw herself onto his bed. Anakin noticed that she was wearing a very short skirt and a very short top that made very difficult not to notice her long, muscled body. He hoped that she didn't go outside dressed like that; it was a dangerous block and having a fourteen-years old going around like _that _didn't fit with Anakin's ideal life.

"So?" she asked with a knowing smile "Who's the victim this time?"

Anakin glared at her again, taking off his green t-shirt to try something different. Ahsoka would have probably laughed her ass off, if he had told her. He could almost hear her _"The daughter of a diplomat? Bite me, Skywalker, you must have lost your fucking mind"_

"Skyguuuuy" she whined, whilst trafficking with something under his bed. He was too concentrated in choosing an appropriate outfit to check on her. The white shirt? He wondered. It was the only decent piece of clothes he actually owned and he kind of felt uncomfortable wearing it. He looked like a spoilt child in it. But at least he wouldn't look like he was a –well, a cheap immigrant with a scholarship, living in an Institute for orphaned children. He gritted his teeth angrily and took out the white shirt.

"Who-oah" Ahsoka commented "That must be special!"

"Ahsoka, would you please fuck off?" he hissed, putting on the white shirt. Ok, that was better.

"Now I get it" announced Ahsoka: "You got the poor girl pregnant, and you have to marry her tonight"

"You got me" Anakin retorted "and you are so not invited, so please _go_".

He looked again at his reflection; did he really look like he was going to marry?

"C'mon, Skyguy, I could baby-sit your child, I don't charge much.."

Anakin threw her a pair of old and dirty socks.

"Eeeeeew, you are disgusting!"

He just ignored her. "How do I look?" he asked, turning again. Ahsoka went back to serious, visibly pleased that he was giving her importance and was asking her advice. She studied him.

"Umh, maybe it would be better with the black jeans, wouldn't it?"

He studied again his image in the mirror. Then sighted and started to unbutton his jeans.

"You know, there is no need to get naked in front of me"

"You have already seen my ass and _you_ are the one in the boys' dormitory"

Ahsoka didn't reply, knowing that at least on this he was right. A worried voice in the back of Anakin's mind suggested him that he may not be the only boy whose room Ahsoka visited so freely. He dismissed the thought, shivering.

She was trafficking again with his bed, but Anakin had to admit that she was right; with the black jeans he almost looked like his classmates –well, a _cool_ version of his classmates.

Ahsoka threw him an appreciative look: "Told you, Skyguy".

He nodded at his reflection, satisfied. Then, he looked at her in the mirror and saw _what _Ahsoka was looking for.

"Anakin!" She screamed, when he immobilized both her hands and forced her to drop what she had taken. _Condoms._ He should have known better. That little thief was too _snippy _for her own good. She had taken _condoms_. And she knew where he hide them, that little...

"You are _too _young" he hissed, putting the condoms in his pocket, still holding her immobilized.

"They are not for me!" she protested, blushing furiously "And even if, what you are? A fucking nun?!"

"Then they are for _whom_?" he glared "And if they are not for you, why didn't you _ask, _you sneaky, little-"

"You would have never given me _sheats_!" and Anakin had to admit to himself that no, he would never. His idea of contraceptive with Ahsoka was just to _kill the boy_.

"They are for Jess" she admitted whispering "she has a boyfriend now". Anakin had the distinct impression that Ahsoka was not pleased at all with her best friend dating someone. Which probably explained why she was dressed like _that_.

"Well, couldn't she simply go and buy condoms for herself?"

"She said she' ashamed" Ahsoka said simply.

"Her boyfriend could, couldn't he?" Anakin said angrily, trying to smooth down his hair and clothes which had gone bananas again, during his little interlude with Ahsoka. "Usually boys take care of this things, not best friends" he added, regretting it almost immediately. She had taken charge of this mission, brave and loyal Ahsoka and her friend had just taken advantage of the girl's reckless attitude and love for danger.

She looked a little hurt, but set her jaw stubbornly "Maybe he's afraid too"

"Well, if he wants to have sex he should really grow some balls" he retorted back.

Ahsoka laughed at his stupid joke and Anakin took a lot of comfort in hearing her childish laughter. She still was a child and she still wasn't thinking about sex, boys or all the things that could very much hurt her. "So?" she asked smiling widely "You trust me enough and you care enough about poor Jess to give me one?"

He glared again. "Tell her I didn't have any" he suggested, picking up his keys, mobile and jacket.

"_Ani_!" She pleaded. He almost laughed hearing his affectionate nickname. _She must be desperate. _

He threw her a two-credits coin instead .

"Bye Snips!". He closed the door of his room, not replying the insults she was throwing at him. Man, it was getting difficult to look after her. He had to take her to live with him, once he could. In a proper house, once he graduated and found a job. She would do just fine with him.

Ahsoka would never go back to her family after all, and he had proved that he could look after her.

The social workers at the Institute had suggested to assign Ahsoka to him, when he was just sixteen. They wanted Anakin to calm down and take some responsibilities –at the time he was running down to a very, _very_ dangerous path, almost risking everything he had worked for, with his pre-admission test approaching, Qui-Gon dead and his mom marrying again back on Tattooine. So he had gotten this scared ten-years old to look after. At first, he had just wanted to strangle the child and leave no evidences of the fact, but she _had_ grown on him. Always following him everywhere, always asking him everything, to explain her everything. The childish, petulant voice calling _Aniii _from across the room, as if he was her mentor. And that had changed Anakin, had made him mature and stay out of troubles; a frail little girl to raise and cherish, who had not anyone to trust beside him. Somebody else to be responsible for and who was asking him to focus his energy on somebody who wasn't himself.

The cool, I-don't-care attitude had come later, when she had hit puberty. Man, he didn't want a daughter, one teenage girl was enough for a life time.

But still, Ahsoka Tano was like his little sister and Anakin wanted to take her to live in a better place than an Institute. A place where she didn't have to steal condoms to look cool and all grown-up in front of her friends, for instance. Anakin knew very well that girls were as dangerous as boys at that age –if only less explicit. And probably worse for this subtle quality of theirs. He had met some girls that had really scared him off, even he was fifteen centimeters taller and much bigger than they were.

He walked down the familiar street to the underground, enjoying the windy sunset. He hoped Miss Naberrie –as Obi-Wan had called her- wasn't so scary.

**Ok, I think this is the most dangerous chapter for the entire fanfiction I guess XD The little expedient of the condom helps me explain a lot of things about characters.. Anakin had a sexual life before, Ahsoka knows a lot more about him that he thinks (yeah so original) and she's having problem of her own (worst thing ever when your best friend has a boyfriend and you don't); but I know it is a little gross and a little "stretchy" … So here we go, if you didn't mind it too much I can take a deep breath and go on, if not … well criticism is most welcome :) **

**The aim of the fanfiction is to take them as IC as possible, just taking out the jedi part :D everything else should be as similar as possible –particularly the interactions between characters. Padmé is a little different because she's younger so her behavior towards Anakin must be a little different and Ahsoka is too because here she's a young girl in a difficult environment. But she is the disturbance element in Anakin's life and that's canon, I'd say :D **

**Thank you all for your reviews! Particularly to "guests" whom I cannot thank directly :) **

**Also, I am sorry about the spelling and the grammar mistakes! I discovered at my expenses that one thing is to write an essay in English… another is to write fanfictions (much more fun, but much more difficult)! :D **


	4. Chapter 4

_In which Anakin almost screws everything up. _

**The worst date ever**

After only five minutes, Anakin could tell that it had been a very bad idea and that it was going to be the worst date ever. They had met, embarrassed and silent and when he had come closer she had taken a step back, blushing furiously. It had been a mistake apparently; he wasn't going to assault her, he had approached because that was just the normal distance he put between him and other people. But he should have expected it; they didn't know anything about each other after all. However, it wasn't even that stupid error that made him realize that the date was going to be a total failure. It was the oppressing sensation that she came from a totally different galaxy. Her big, brown eyes pierced him and probably found him guilty. He was really conscious that his clothes looked cheap and that she didn't appreciated his leather jacket as the girls back at the Institute. His hands were a little wet and he _had_ noticed that she kept on looking at the little oil stain on his right index.

_She doesn't like you, Skywalker_.

Padmé had to admit that she kind of liked Anakin. True, he was a little cheesy and little bit too physical for her. He _had_ tried to kiss her, hadn't he? But he was also cute and he seemed sincere in his displays of affection. She also found kind of sexy his callous hands and the little oil stain he had on his right index. Clovis's hands were so well cured that she had almost wanted to ask him where he got his manicure done.

They chatted a little, wandering in the streets near the imposing building that was their university.

"So, you study politics?" he asked, eyeing her curiously.

"Yes, Intergalactic policies and Republic law" she explained proudly.

"Oh" Anakin fell silent again. She _what_?

Padmé waited an answer for a few seconds. In Padmé's world, people congratulated her and made her a thousand questions after she had explained what she studied. But Anakin didn't seem to be like anyone in Padmé's world. He didn't seem to like talking, either.

"I want to be a politician one day" she went on.

"Oh" he said again "For the money?" he asked.

Padmé's eyes widened and for a moment she looked like he had slapped her. Then she giggled, much to Anakin surprise.

"For the greater good, actually" she answered humorously "You could say I'm an idealist"

"Are you?" asked Anakin, wishing his voice didn't sound so desperate. _Idealist_. He remembered Obi-Wan using that word in some of his lectures. Something about a dead philosopher saying something about the reality or the rationality or _something_..

"Are you making fun of me?" she asked, smiling.

"Not at all, Miss" he answered quickly, grateful that at least she was smiling "I'm just wandering what an idealist is"

Padmé nodded, as if she was taking seriously the stupid, plain question Anakin had asked.

"Are you sure you are not a philosophy major?"

Anakin laughed "Don't ever tell this to Obi-Wan" he chuckled "He would _die_ if he had to teach me."

"Why?"

"He says that I'm the most superficial person he knows" he explained.

Padmé shrugged. _Superficial?_ Was she really dating a superficial guy? She had anything against people from Outer Rim. But _superficial_ guys?

"He says that I see the world in black and white" continued Anakin, surprised that he actually had bothered to listen to Obi-Wan so carefully "And that I'm too emotional to have principles"

"He likes you, though" reflected Padmé. Superficial?

Anakin laughed again "Yes, the old man has a soft heart"

She laughed too.

"But how do you know him, then?" she asked curiously.

"Who? Obi-Wan?"

"Yes, I mean… he's not your professor, then?"

"Oh, it's a long, boring story…"

"Well, we have time, you know" she insisted, frowning.

Anakin made a dismissive gesture, his eyes dark.

"Really, it's just boring" he smiled at her, hoping that she would just drop the subject. Really, in his past there was nothing that could really interest Padmé. Make her cry, yes, or make her run away. Interest? Not really. And besides, Anakin was starting to hope that the date wouldn't be a total disaster, there was no reason to ruin everything with the sad story of his life; he proposed to get something to drink. She followed her into a students' bar.

"I've never been here" she admitted, looking at the rustic furniture. Anakin froze, looking almost afraid of her reaction. He had chosen the bar because he knew that the prices weren't too high and he would be able to offer her the drinks.

"I like it though" she added quickly, probably noticing that the boy's jaw had hardened with worry. Anakin relaxed and went to get their orders. But Padmé had noticed something else. A spark in his eyes, something like a dark shadow that just _felt_ like danger. The girl shivered with something curiously similar to pleasure; she had always despised those stupid girls who fell for the wrong guy making up excuses for his violent behavior and yet.. there she was, fascinated by a sexy boy who seemed just able to burn to entire galaxy up. She shook her head; Anakin hadn't made anything to make her think that he could really be dangerous. And she had probably imagined to see that glint, just because she was expecting him to be like _that_. Blaming herself for her prejudicial mindset, thinking _your father has brought you up better,_ Padmé looked distractedly at his figure. She blushed. He _had_ a great ass, Dormé was totally right.

The evening went on smoothly and Padmé was starting to feel a bit tipsy. She had insisted in offering the second round, claiming that she was for fair opportunities and there was no point in letting the man paying for everything. To be honest, she had noticed that he didn't seem to have a lot of cash on him and she really didn't want to embarrass him.

"So you went to the Principal today?" she asked cheerfully "What crimes have you committed?" she giggled.

Anakin jolted in surprise: "How do you-?" he stopped. Of course, she was in Obi-Wan's office. Anakin wondered how he could have forgotten, seen that in the shower he had replied the scene several times in his mind.

Padmé giggled again and took another sip of her pink drink.

"Well, I did something very stupid if you want to know" he began, wandering if the beautiful girl in front of him was starting to like him or if she was just plain _drunk_.

"So-o?"

"You know, I had this exam last week…" he paused, making eyes contact and grinning. She was smiling too, her eyes bright with mischief and curiosity and her cheeks reddened by the hot room and all the alcohol she had drunk.

_Probably both. _

"And it was very, very difficult.." he continued, lowering a bit his voice, as if he was on the verge of confessing a murder. She moved closer and Anakin had to fight the urge to kiss her. She smelled like flowers.

"And I was a bit pissed off, so I wrote something on the paper"

"The answers, maybe?" she laughed.

"Yeah, thank you" he mocked "Other than the answers."

He fell silent, still grinning.

"And so? Oh c'mon!" she protested "just tell me already!"

"Go fuck yourself"

Padmé froze. What had he just _told_ her?

"Pardon?"

"Go fuck yourself" repeated Anakin "I mean, that's what I wrote… on the exam, I mean"

Padmé stayed very still for a few seconds and then she started laughing in a way that was little befitting of a well-mannered young lady. She had wished so many times to just say something like that to her teachers. Really. Go fuck yourself, I don't need to know everything by heart just to get _another _99.

Anakin was laughing with her, thinking that her reaction was totally worth the forty minutes he had spent listening to crazy, old Yoda lecturing him. Man, she was beautiful.

"And what did you get?" she asked, after a while.

"What do you mean?"

"The grade, what grade did you get?" Padmé knew that she shouldn't be asking. Grades were a private matter and in a university like theirs, people could them really personally. But, for some reasons, she wanted to know if Anakin was clever, other than completely crazy. She was starting to like him a lot. Maybe she was just drunk and he was a total idiot and a superficial guy, but he was _sexy_.

"Oh" Anakin looked taken aback "One hundred cum laude"

"You must be kidding me" she hadn't expected _that _"You insult the professor, and he gives you the maximum?"

"Well, I got a disciplinary note, you know?" he grinned "But yeah, apparently this time my demonstration was better than perfect Olin's" he added sharply. Why was he always talking about that asshole?

"Olin who?" she asked.

"Oh, just the most horrible guy in the whole universe" explained Anakin with contempt "Who thinks he got to be the perfect math genius just because he doesn't have any human relations and he has a permanent stick up his ass-"

But Padmé had started to laugh again "No, I meant Olin like, _Ferus Olin_?"

Anakin stopped, assaulted by the distinct feeling that he had made another, big mistake.

"Don't tell me, he is your cousin" he sighted.

"No-" she giggled again.

"Your fiancé?"

She glared at him at the innuendo, but his smile just grew wider and she smiled back.

"No" she repeated "We attended the same elementary school".

"I'm sorry for you" he said quickly.

She laughed again "He was actually a nice kid, you know?"

"Oh yeah, I can imagine" he agreed sarcastically "Did he tell you that your operations looked like the devil's offspring? Because that's what he said about _my_ math". Padmé chuckled at such a fierce response. Something about his expression told her that Anakin took mathematics quite personally.

She finished her drink with a last sip.

"You know, the teachers said that Olin and I were just the same" she said.

Anakin moaned in disbelief : "Yeah, sure" he said, making her giggle again.

"It's true!" she insisted "They said that we were very bright children.."

"Yes, but you are also beautiful"

Padmé fell silent, blushing. Ok, he was cheesy. But she couldn't help but feel flattered by his compliments and his attentions. And he hadn't made any attempt to take her to bed, she considered. She was not a _prude_, despite all the things that Dormé said, but really one date was just not _enough_.

"Shall we go outside?" asked Anakin. Padmé nodded and started to collect her jacket and bag.

"Wait a minute" he stopped her "I need the toilet" he explained, taking his wallet out of his pocket.

"I'll be right back" he added and she chuckled, wondering if he was afraid that she would just run away in the time he was using the bathroom.

Padmé eyed his wallet and, after just five seconds, she decided that he wouldn't really mind if she took a look. She opened it and saw some cards and papers. He just had five credits left and some coins –she had been right to insist offering the second round. His name was really Anakin Skywalker and he was born in Tattooine twenty years before –in the Outer Rim indeed. He was really studying mathematics and he was on full scholarship –she felt a rush of admiration in her stomach. There were some business cards of place he had been, one of them from a mechanics shop. He had told her that he worked part-time as a mechanic and she had found cute the pride he clearly took in telling her so.

She liked him. And he seemed _worthy_ of it.

She smiled at herself, packing everything back into the wallet. She was putting it where Anakin had left it when she saw it.

A condom. Padmé felt the familiar flush of rage gathering in her stomach. He was _so_ dead, she thought. So what? He had presumed that she'd just have sex with him that same night? Was he planning to just exit the bar and ask "your place or mine, honey"? _As if_, Padmé considered angrily.

When Anakin approached the table he could feel that something had changed. She wasn't smiling anymore and when he moved closer she just turned and hold her bag closer. Now, that was confusing. He took his wallet, hoping that once outside she would go back liking him.

_Fuck, fuck, fuck. _He would just kill Ahsoka and hide her corpse in the woods. No, better he would plead guilty and explain the situation: they'd just let him go. _Snips_ and her stupid best friend. He had completely forgot that he had condoms in his pocket. She had seen it, he could tell that. _Shit. He was so fucked, now. _Girls never liked when boys took condoms at dates, except when they wanted to just do it and boys hadn't taken any protections.

But he didn't want to! Well, ok, of course he did, he just didn't want to let her understand that he wanted to.

He followed her outside the bar, speeding up to catch with her furious pace.

"Padmé!" he called, taking her wrist.

"What?" she snapped, forcing him to let her go. Man, she was at least an head shorter than him and she _could_ look scary.

"I'm sorry, it's not like it seems-" he started.

"The answer is _no _if that's what you are thinking-"

"But I didn't plan to ask!" he said, sounding almost desperate; then, considering that a phrase like that could very much sound even worse "I mean, I didn't think we would-"

She looked at him defiantly: "And you just take protections with you just in case?"

"No, I swear I just took them because Ahsoka had asked me-"

"_Ahsoka_?!" Padmé looked like she was going to hit him. Ok, offering and explanation that started with a female's name was not a very _good_ idea.

"She's like my sister!" he added quickly.

"Your sister asked you to bring _condoms_?"

"Yes! _No_!" He exclaimed "I mean, she wanted to take them, so I just… she's not really my sister.. but yes!"

"Couldn't she just buy them?" Padmé couldn't tell if she found more pathetic the fact that he brought condoms at a first date or the excuses he was making up.

"They weren't for her!" he snapped "They were for her friend! Ahsoka is _fourteen_!"

"You told me!" she shouted, taken aback by the fact that he seemed more preoccupied in defending his little friend's honor than offering Padmé a plausible explanation. Ok, she was offended –and a little jealous. They stared at each other, both red and bothered. They both couldn't believe that _he_ had screwed this up.

"Look" he started "I really like you"

Padmé rolled her eyes: "I'm not the girl you are looking for!"

"No I mean, I _really_ like you!" Obi-Wan was right. He _couldn't_ express himself in any comprehensible way.

"You remind me of my mom" he tried again, before he could stop himself.

"_What?"_

_Nice shot, Skywalker. Now she thinks you are a serial killer. _

"I mean, you remind me about something she told me about" he breathed "Angels or something" he concluded lowering his voice blushing. He was a _total_ idiot. They should give him a prize. A degree in idiocy, really.

Padmé couldn't believe that somebody so rude could be so cheesy –and at the same time some kind of cool math genius that, for some moronic reasons, she liked.

"You…" she stared "Thank you". She was a _total_ idiot: thank you?

He went closer to her: "I really wasn't planning anything tonight" he added with a weak voice.

She glared at him. The whole story was so crazy that it might as well be true. Padmé had taken some criminology courses for her free credits and she thought she could detect a lie when she heard one. Anakin seemed sincere. _And_ he looked even prettier when he pouted.

She didn't say anything but didn't move when he took another step further close to her. Probably, she was exaggerating. And she was probably mad because Dormé and Bail were right and she was wrong. And despite everything, she liked Anakin.

"I really like you" he repeated, almost whispering.

She shivered a little, feeling him so close. But she was angry. His lips were full and they seemed soft. Maybe not really. Maybe she just wanted to screw this up, so she could go back to her life. She opened her mouth a little, unconsciously expecting a kiss. She didn't _need_ a boyfriend.

"You are beautiful, Padmé" he murmured, stroking lightly her cheek. She closed her eyes.

One hour and forty minutes later, Anakin was grinning like a total idiot to his reflection on the underground. He had kissed her. Like, really, really kissed her. A good, long French kiss that had made him pretty uncomfortable. Ok, she had _slapped_ him, too, but then she had kissed him again. She _liked_ him. Even if he was a total idiot and a cheap immigrant with serious problems in expressing himself.

More or less at the same hour, Dormé looked at her friend intensively: "You know, if she really starts dating Skywalker I'll be left alone"

Bail shook his head "You wouldn't, you are just being melodramatic" he said simply "And what are the chances of those two really getting together, anyway?"

Dormé shrugged "You never know, she _is_ stubborn enough to marry him just to prove a point"

"That's true, but he would notice probably"

"Well, and maybe we are just being acid and they will fall in love"

"Umh, they could get married by the lake on Naboo"

"And have a little Skywalker"

"Maybe _twins"_

The two friends laughed together, waiting for their brave Padmé to come back broken hearted and whining.

But Miss Naberrie didn't catch with her friends, and just went back to home. She was tired and probably grinning like an idiot. She had seen Anakin's expression and even if she was flattered, she very much hoped not to have the same look on her face. She just texted Dormé that she wasn't coming and that she had indeed escaped Skywalker's bed (and that she was regretting it a little). The she turned off the phone before her friend could obsess her with her questions.

**So here we are :) I promise all of this has a plot that will develop –eventually. Thank you :) **


	5. Chapter 5

_In which Padmé has three important conversations… _

**Politics **

Padmé was very, very excited. She was in front of Senator Palpatine's office, her CV held tightly in her hand. The first time they had met the old man had been nothing if not encouraging with her, nodding approvingly at her intervention during dinner and applauding at her profession of love for democracy.

"I will need young, determined ladies in my new government" Palpatine had said softly, winking at Padmé. The girl had felt a rush of pride running in her veins. Palpatine was going to be the next candidate in elections and an internship in his entourage during such a time was just the perfect start for Padmé's career. She watched excitedly her watch, considering that if she had survived her first date with Anakin, she could survive everything. The simple thought of the boy made her smile like a complete idiot, but she wasn't aware of it and the only person who could really notice it –Palpatine's secretary- was too busy inspecting her nails.

"Miss Naberrie?" Padmé glanced up and saw a smiling, professional looking girl who seemed a little older than she was. She took a deep breath and followed the girl inside the Senator's office. She could do it. She wouldn't fail. Her dad would be proud of her. Not like he was proud of her sister, so beautiful and so naturally motherly. He would be proud of her because of her skills, her brilliance, her dedication to politics and critic thinking.

She smiled to Senator Palpatine and they began Padmé's interview. He was nice and kind and he looked at her with admiration for her juvenile commitment to ideals, but he listened carefully, showing her a true interest. Padmé enjoyed the attentions she was getting –true, definite attention for what she had to say.

In that hot, spring afternoon, she had found a true mentor.

Anakin glanced nervously at the guards. Padmé had told him to wait for her outside the Senate and there he was. He was uncomfortably conscious of his own nervousness and, slightly annoyed with himself, because, really, he hadn't done anything to have any rational reason to fear the guards. At least not recently. But he was still preoccupied and uniforms always made him _tense_. He just hoped Padmé would hurry up and put an end to his agony. After several, long minutes of waiting he saw his beautiful new girlfriend exiting the building with an old man. He shifted uncomfortably, unsure if he should approach her not.

But Padmé saw him and smiled widely, saying something to the old man. When they reached Anakin, the boy noticed that she was a little flushed. He grinned nervously, keeping at good distance from his girlfriend; he didn't know if she would have appreciated a kiss in front of her future employer.

"Senator, this is Anakin Skywalker" she said proudly "Anakin, Senator Palpatine"

Anakin shook hands with the man, surprised that such a fragile looking person could have such a strong grip.

"I'm sorry, my boy I think I've stolen too much of this young lady's time…" the old man smiled, revealing sharp teeth that made Padmé shiver. Anakin on the other hand looked pretty amused by this weird, old Senator. She blushed a little for her ungrateful thinking, but Palpatine mistook it for embarrassment, probably due to Anakin's presence.

"My children, love at your age is such a beautiful thing!" he added, smiling to both "An you, my boy, you are too a politician-in-training as our lovely Miss Naberrie?"

"No, sir" Anakin answered, surprised by this sudden interest "I study engineering and math"

"I see" replied Palpatine, giving Anakin a strange, long look. "Well, I must say farewell" he added "But I think I leave you both in a much better company than the one of an old senator" he smirked.

Padmé made a little, elegant bow "Thank you very much again, Senator"

"Miss Naberrie, it was my pleasure" answered Palpatine "You are a brilliant young lady, indeed… I can tell, you have a bright future in politics" he added, making the girl blush again, visibly pleased and flattered.

"And you…You must have a lot rivals, my boy" he smirked, before leaving the two alone.

Two hours later, Padmé was trying hard to concentrate on the reading she had to finish. But it was difficult when she could _feel _that Anakin was thinking about something and that that _something_ had nothing to do with the open book he had in front of him. He had been pensive since they had met in front of the Senate, hours before.

"And…" he started sounding a little uncertain "..how many boys have you dated before me?"

_There we go_, Padmé flushed, suddenly irritated: "Well, why, how many girls have _you_ dated?" she didn't want to have that conversation with Anakin. Not in her living room, in broad daylight and surely not when they were supposed to _study_.

He looked a little taken aback by the question. Did _that_ really matter? Anakin was a boy and he had been a teenage boy not a long time before. He had done anyone who was kind enough to let him do so. But then again, nothing of that mattered, or did it?

"Well" the sincere answer was "_define date" _but he could totally tell that it wasn't the correct one "Let's say four." Padmé jolted a little, but then she smiled reassured. She had expected a much bigger number if she had to be completely honest with herself.

"So, you are my fifth girl" _kind of_ , he added silently to himself "and I am the..?"

Padmé flushed again: "The second one" she answered, with a faint voice "I had a boyfriend in high school"

Anakin was clearly expecting her to go on and explain, so she took a deep breath and started "His name was Palo and we met one day-"

"Ehy! I don't want to hear all the details!" he interrupted her, looking away, visibly jealous and annoyed. He couldn't recall why it had been so important to know. He didn't really want to know. It was just that stupid Palpatine and that stupid things he had said about having rivals and so on.

"Then, what do you want to know?"

"Was it serious?" Padmé blushed deeply. What was he asking her?

"Serious enough" she answered. Whatever. She didn't want to have that conversation, at all. And she was getting irritated.

Anakin let out an annoyed moan "Serious enough as in serious _how_?"

"What are you exactly asking me?" she retorted, annoyed and flushed. She didn't want to share the sad story of her past relationships with Anakin and she had known all along that it had been a terrible idea to enter that topic.

"Just asking" he replied "You are _being_ evasive"

"I had sex with him" she cut it short "I enjoyed it, too" she added, regretting it almost immediately –she was a _bad_, bad person. Anakin clenched his fist automatically, but said nothing. He looked a little hurt by the admission. _As if_ he couldn't make her enjoy it as well, he considered a little offended.

"Happy?" she asked harshly, but feeling really guilty. Anakin didn't deserve that and she surely didn't want to hurt him. But it was his fault, wasn't it?

He didn't answer at first. She looked hurt now, as if he had crossed an invisible line. Maybe she her ex had hurt her or cheated on her and he had reminded her of all the suffering.

"I was just curious about… Sorry" he said after a while with a small voice, a little intimidated by her pained look. Had the guy _died_?

"Then we broke up" she added suddenly "I left him."

Anakin was silent again. He had asked, he was going to listen to all the details, even if he didn't want to.

"After two years…" she continued a little incoherently: ".. I was bored to death, really."

And despite himself, Anakin laughed: "You were? Why?"

"He was just plain perfect" she explained. The explanation sounded stupid to her own ears and she didn't know why she was telling that.

Anakin tilted his head. To him Padmé was _perfect_; and he hadn't the slightest intention of getting bored or of leaving her. He wanted to have sex -and make her enjoy it- though. But _that_ had to wait, he could tell.

"I mean, he was the sensitive, clever type who was always there for me…" she explained again "But I mean he was _so _sensitive and he never really got angry."

_Bite me_, reflected Anakin. If she wanted somebody who got angry, well, _Anakin_ was her perfect match.

"So he _was_ perfect!" he reasoned.

"Yes, and he was _so_ sensitive" she repeated, as if that explained everything. "Well, he was too much, you know? He was false in a way… so eager to please everybody and to be liked by everybody… that I was put aside…"

"Yeah.." he said, trying to sound participative and failing miserably. The truth was that he had no idea of what she was talking about; in his galaxy, there was no space for _pleasing_. His world was divided between friends and enemies; he would help and protect the friends, who accepted him just like he was, and he would push away the enemies. There was no room for pleasing, not in that sense. There was love and hate and that was it.

"But now you are with me" he concluded, as if it was not clear.

"Yes, I'm with you" Padmé answered, shifting uncomfortably on the couch. Anakin was suddenly very close to her, their noses almost touching. He closed the little space between them with a light kiss.

"And you find me boring, too?" he murmured with a small smile.

"N-no" she replied, eyes wide and flushed cheeks: "You are everything but boring" she manage to add, before he kissed her again. He deepened the kiss, leaning toward her and caressing slowly her tights. She froze a little not very sure whether she should touch him or not. He bit gently her lower lip, pushing her a little. Padmé was lying on the couch now, Anakin on top of her, caressing and biting and kissing. Not boring _at all_. She stroke his back and neck, still unsure; he smiled between kisses, letting her know that he was appreciating that gentle touch. She caressed a little his cheek and he tilted his head to kiss her hand.

Padmé in her limited experience couldn't help but compare him to Palo. It was just different, not better not worse, just different. It had felt so perfect, so rational and so safe to be with Palo; and now it felt so exciting, so hot and so adventurous to let Anakin touch and bite and explore. It was like flying, or better, it was like letting him fly and just enjoy the ride. Ok, Padmé must admit that maybe she preferred Anakin's style a little. He just was so _alive_. She moaned, when he slid and hand under her shirt, caressing her belly and kissing her collarbone. He was a little flushed but he seemed to be taking his task seriously. He was caressing gently her breasts, taking his time and Padmé was starting to feel a familiar fire gathering in her stomach…

A sudden noise made them both freeze. Anakin jumped on his feet and took several steps away from Padmé. They both watched with horror the door open.

"Honey" called Mrs. Naberrie's sweet voice "I'm home"

"Mom!" exclaimed Padmé "We- I wasn't expecting you so early" she added, when her mother entered the living room.

The older woman considered briefly the scene; her daughter was flushed, with ruffled hair and her clothes looked scruffy –something that hadn't happened to Padmé since she was five. Too many steps from her to be believable, stood a boy, an handsome one, who looked likewise ruffled and pretty confused. She knew that look; she had seen that same expression on her husband face's too many times, during her engagement days –when the moral rules were a bit stricter and it was difficult to steal some moments of privacy.

"Yes" she said with a small laugh "_That_ I can tell"

Padmé flushed even more, and Anakin lowered his gaze, whishing hard not to be there.

"Well, as it is evident that I have indeed come home too early" said Padmé's mom with good humor "The least I can do is to prepare you something to eat…"

"Come" she told them, smiling widely at Anakin "I'm not sure I've caught your name, my boy"

"Oh, sorry Mrs. Naberrie, I'm Anakin, Anakin Skywalker"

"Nice to meet you" she smiled to the boy, reflecting that she had never heard the surname Skywalker. He didn't came from Padmé usual circle of friends. She didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, but for sure she wasn't going to let the boy starve.

When Jobal Naberrie placed a plate full of Nubian fruits and sweets in front of him, Anakin couldn't help but look surprised. Padmé's mom was as kind and sweet as his own mother –even if she had married a Diplomat and lived in beautiful house. She looked a lot like Padmé, short and elegant with a pretty face and big, brown eyes.

Jobal smiled when she saw the Skywalker boy eat eagerly and clearly appreciating; he seemed polite enough and he seemed way too fit to indulge too much on drugs or alcohol. He also looked too happy to eat to give her the impression that he would represent some kind of danger for her daughter. Padmé was still a bit flushed but she smiled fondly watching Anakin clearly appreciating her mom's cooking and her mother's simple acceptance of her boyfriend. She wondered briefly where Anakin's mom was and if she would have been as gentle as her own with her. He had mentioned her, but he had never really spoke about her. And, Padmé reflected, he had never mentioned a dad either.

"So now, I guess it's my parental duty to make you uncomfortable, Anakin" Mrs. Naberrie laughed. Anakin smiled with that cocky grin that Padmé had learnt to love –well, to appreciate- and answered with his most convincing air to all the questions that her mother asked him. He seemed so natural, so true, compared to all the fictitious world of politics Padmé wanted to be part of. And she could tell her mother liked him, with his good humor and his simple manners. But then again, Jobal had always been suspicious of most politicians and she probably was happy that Padmé was finally dating a boy who wasn't part of that corrupt world.

Two hours later Padmé was walking Anakin to the nearest underground station. Mrs. Naberrie had almost begged him to stay over for dinner, but he had promised to take Ahsoka to a movie and he didn't want to let the girl down. Well, not again –given that he had postponed the movie two times already to be with Padmé.

"What do you think of my mom?" she asked suddenly.

"She's cool" he chuckled "She could improve her timing, though"

Padmé laughed a little. "I would have stopped you anyway", she added more seriously. She was naïve, yes, –or maybe even a _prude_, as Dormé loved to repeat- but she had enough sense not to ruin a thing that could be beautiful in the right time and place.

"_Probably_" she added after a while, with the natural good humor she had inherited from her mother.

Anakin laughed and turned to kiss her forehead "It's not a problem".

Padmé smiled to herself, feeling his hand catching hers. "And when are you going to introduce me your mom?"

She felt Anakin's hand clench, but he was smiling nonetheless: "Soon".

"Where is she?" she asked, against her best judgment.

This time Anakin's expression hardened: "Tattoine" he replied dryly, but she could tell that it had cost a lot to pronounce the name of his birth planet. It was the first time he did, since they had started dating.

"And your dad?" she asked, with her most soft voice. She knew that Professor Kenobi had psychology degree and that probably helped, but she couldn't believe that it was healthy for Anakin avoiding every mention of his past or of his roots. He had to unload, to loosen up.

Anakin stiffened, but Padmé noticed that he hadn't left her hand. Instead, he had tightened his grip, as if Padmé was an anchor he could rely on, to escape his own suffering.

"I.." he stopped and said nothing for a long moment and Padmé didn't press, lowering her gaze letting him take his time.

"I have no dad" he admitted finally "It's… It was only my mom and I"

Padmé nodded, and decided to drop the subject. _Shit_, she thought. He clearly didn't want to talk about it and she could understand that it was not easy it _there was no dad. _And for the moment being, those little admissions were enough. Even if it was difficult not to be curious. Not for simple malice, reasoned Padmé, but because she felt the need to know everything about this boy, who seemed a walking contradiction.

"I can introduce you Ahsoka" Anakin said suddenly, his grip a little lighter. Padmé wondered briefly if he was aware of the pressure he put on his right hand.

"I would love to meet her" Padmé answered.

"She's almost family" he explained, slowly.

"Yes, you told me" she smiled at the memory of their, disastrous, first date.

"I warn you, she can be a _little monkey_"

Padmé laughed.

"And she will tell horrible stories about me, so don't listen to her" he added "Better, listen but don't believe"

"Are you hiding something?"

"Not from you" he answered truthfully "And whatever she tells you, I am not the one who let her fly when she was eleven"

Padmé couldn't believe her ears "You let an eleven-years old girl fly?" she laughed again.

Everything was just good again.

The morning after, Padmé had an hour break in between the lessons. Without even noticing it, she walked to the philosophy department. She knew it was a bad thing to do. But he didn't seem prone to talk to her about it, and as every good student, when Padmé didn't know something she did research.

"Can I speak to you, professor Kenobi?"

"Yes, of course Miss Naberrié" he answered smiling widely "About your dissertation, I spoke with-"

"No, wait, professor" Padmé interrupted, flushing slightly "I mean I appreciate your efforts, but I'm not here to ask you about the dissertation"

Obi-Wan looked a little taken aback. He had a very bad feeling about it.

"What I really want to talk about is Anakin"

Obi-Wan went very pale, very suddenly.

"_What_ has he set fire to, this time?"

Padmé looked puzzled and quite astonished.

"No, I mean…" sudden realization struck Padmé "He hasn't told you, has he?" she asked, blushing heavily.

Obi-Wan's brain started to list all the possibilities before he could stop. He wasn't dead or he would know. That was something. But he could be injured. Being chased down by some mafia organizations. He might have killed somebody. He could be _on the run_.

Then Kenobi noticed the slight blush on Padmé's cheeks and for a moment there he hoped that Anakin _was_ being chased down by some mafia organization.

"We are dating" Padmé announced and Kenobi had to bite his lower lip not to ask her if she was pregnant and going to ask Obi-Wan to hide their unborn child from the total craziness of its father.

"Are you?"

"Yes, but…" Padmé considered her words very carefully. She knew that she on her choice of phrasing could very much depend the success of her little mission "..I know it is not my place to ask and you cannot really tell me, but what has happened to him?"

Obi-Wan frowned. Padmé would make a great politician one day. She never really lied and she always seemed so frank and direct –she just phrased things in slightly different ways. But, Kenobi had studied psychology and was no stranger to the subtle art of telling the truth –just not quite. And he was a better manipulator than she was.

"Then you know that I won't answer this question" he replied gently "If you like Anakin, ask him"

Padmé opened her mouth to speak again, but words seemed to escape her. She wasn't used to stand her ground with a professor. Authority for her was sacred, even when she didn't agree with it. And it was difficult to call authority this gentle young man who had always been so kind with her.

"He will tell you" Obi-Wan reassured her "You just need to give him time".

Padmé nodded considering his words. She couldn't say why, but she had the distinct feeling that professor Kenobi had refused to answer not just to protect Anakin's privacy, but also to protect his own.


	6. Chapter 6

_In which Anakin has three conversations…_

**Of vicious senators and some true friends**

Padmé was waiting at the exit of the underground. It was one of the new habit of her totally new routine with Anakin. She had been waiting him there all the mornings since they had started dating, so they could walk to the university together. It was quite strange, but not in a bad way. They had been dating for almost two months now and she felt as if she was constantly tipsy or high; everything surrounding her seemed out of focus and the world didn't have her complete attention –unless, of course, it wasn't about Anakin. Her mother had been asking random questions and the gossiping had just gone _wild_.

Not that Padmé cared. She didn't even care about Dormé and Bail, who seemed so shocked that, for the first time in their young lives, they didn't have an opinion on the matter at hand.

But there she was, waiting. She glanced down at her watch, considering that they still had five minutes and then they would be late. She took into consideration the option of starting to walk, leaving Anakin to himself. After all, they could meet at lunch. I was a good idea, yes, but she didn't move. She could arrive late, once in a while. But after only two minutes she saw Anakin running towards her, a big smile plastered on his face.

"Sorry, sorry.." he started "I'm late" he announced as though Padmé hadn't noticed. He had dreamt of her, and he had spent a little more than usual in the shower.

And then he kissed her, leaving her no time to answer or to think anything at all. After a while –a long while, Padmé thought- they separated to catch some breath. She was flushed, he was grinning as if kissing her in the middle of the street one Thursday morning was the best thing it had ever happened to him.

"We are going to be late" she announced sighting as they started walking.

"We could be more late and have breakfast" he suggested, an angelic expression on his face.

"_Anakin_" she warned "I'm not skipping class"

Fifteen minutes later, however, Padmé was not at all sitting in class. She was having a cappuccino and watching Anakin eating a croissant. She glared at him.

"You are really having a bad influence on me, you know." She looked so pretty when she was so stiff, and Anakin really wanted to take her and to…

"Oh c'mon, morning classes are never useful" he assured "You just sit there, but then you are still sleeping and nothing really enters your brain…"

"Maybe in your brain" she replied "My brain is perfectly awake usually" she pointed out, absurdly.

He laughed: "Alright, alright.. your brain is awake, mine is probably dead…"

But Padmé was distracted by the very last person she wanted to see when having breakfast with her new, handsome boyfriend. Rush Clovis. She felt her cheeks flush; she surely had told Anakin about him, hadn't she? The boy frowned and followed her distracted look.

Anakin saw Rush Clovis and disliked him at once. It was not the same as with Organa who had seemed pretty strange to Anakin, and clearly completely different from him; Bail was weird and spoilt, but he also seemed a good person and a good friend to Padmé. This boy, well, Anakin couldn't tell if he disliked him more because of his cocky grin, his expensive clothes or because Padmé was looking at him. He looked like everything Anakin had loathed all his life; his arrogant smile, that air of power, and money and just that distracted look he threw to the waiter, as if for him was normal to have people serving him. And now even his girlfriend was looking at him –and not at Anakin- with a worried look.

He could almost hear it. The sound of _troubles_ approaching. The stranger turned and offered Padmé a big smile that made Anakin's fists clench. She shifted uncomfortably on the chair, making a little gesture to acknowledge Clovis. Then she resolutely turned to face Anakin again, hoping he hadn't noticed the little interlude.

Anakin looked like he was ready to murder, so yes he had noticed and yes, he hadn't appreciated it. She flushed, hoping she could set things right again.

"He's my class representative" she explained.

"Is he?" wow, Padmé thought, that was an _angry _expression.

"Yes, and he asked me out" she explained thinking that total sincerity was her best shot given the situation.

"You don't have to tell me this…" _Yes, you do_. It was clear that it was costing him a lot to say that, and he was trying to sound rational "..You don't owe me any explanation" he concluded, in a sharp hissing tone that ruined all his best intentions.

"But I want to" she replied quickly "He asked me out and I was thinking to accept, but then just everybody saw him snogging another girl"

Anakin looked visibly surprised: "Another girl?" he asked sounding outraged. Padmé felt a drift of affection for the boy in front of her, who clearly couldn't believe that somebody could have preferred another girl to her.

"Yes" she nodded "Then he had the chutzpah to ask me out again"

Anakin made an outraged sound, his blue eyes burning with contempt.

She smiled and continued: "I went out on a date that same evening, but not with him"

"Who di-" Anakin stopped "Oh. You mean, with me?"

"Yes, I mean with you" she chuckled. He looked thoughtful but he seemed much more relaxed now. His expression was still a little rigid and his muscles quite tense, but his eyes weren't dark anymore. Anakin Skywalker was not an easy boy, she was very well aware of it. But now he was smiling at her and he looked so cute when he looked so pleased with himself.

"He looks so uptight" he added with contempt, watching Clovis complete his orders.

"And he is not in class" she considered, thoughtfully.

"And he is coming this way" Anakin's voice was very, very low.

"Maybe he just wants to say hello properly"

"Maybe I could punch him".

Padmé glared "Maybe not"

But Rush Clovis was already there, smiling widely to Padmé and giving Anakin a brief, haughty look.

"Our brilliant Naberrie" he began with a pleasant voice "Skipping classes, are we?"

Padmé glanced worryingly at Anakin, who seemed even readier to kill.

"Uh, I was late then there was no point…" she started to explain sounding guilty, her grind nature coming out.

"And she is with me" interjected Anakin, now clearly pissed off. Clovis seemed to consider him a long moment, before smiling with an air of condescension.

"Yes" he said slowly as if chewing a distasteful bite "I can see that."

"Clovis" said Padmé, before the situation could degenerate in a common brawl "See you later in class, ok?"

Anakin opened his mouth to say something but Padmé kicked him under the table. He glared at her, an offended look on his face.

"I see" replied Clovis turning "Well I leave you to your… questionable friend".

Anakin was already getting on his feet, ready to punch the idiot, but Padmé was quicker; she put his hand on Anakin's and kissed him briefly, but in very public way. Anakin blinked, calming down almost immediately. A simple kiss seemed to have much more effect than any punch or insult Anakin may have come up with. The bastard didn't look so pleased now. He kept on walking, pretending he hadn't seen.

"_Asshole_." Anakin mumbled.

Clovis turned to glare back at Anakin, but said nothing_. _Padmé was a bit surprised with herself and annoyed by Anakin's reaction –and at the same time flattered by Anakin's reaction.

"You shouldn't react like that, you know" she stated dryly.

"He is an _asshole_" he replied, still tense "He thinks he's better than me"

"But he's not" she insisted "Besides, what would your mother think, quarreling like a five-year old?" she joked.

Anakin stared, his blue eyes wide with a silent emotion and her smile faded. A long silence fell between them. Padmé had spoken without thinking, using the same words she had used many times with her friends –who had their mothers waiting for them home. For her it was just a joke.

"You are right" he replied softly, looking away.

"No, I didn't mean… Sorry, Anakin" she muttered. He gave her an half smile, considering that she seldom pronounced his full name aloud. It sounded nice.

"No problem, and she wouldn't probably appreciate it if I got into fights" he said "..Even with complete assholes" he added, as if his opinion on Clovis was not already clear.

Padmé laughed a little. And then suddenly she asked "Do you have a nickname?"

"Nicknames?" Man, she could be confusing, with her sudden quirks and constant change of subject.

"Do you shorten it? I mean I like your name, Anakin" she explained, pronouncing his name as if she was savoring it "But it's long, so do you have a nickname?"

"No, no nickname that I'm aware of.." she looked a little disappointed, so he added "But you can shorten my name in _Ani.."_ he admitted a little embarrassed.

"_Ani_" she pronounced as if tasting the name on her lips, her eyes lightened "It is so cute!"

"Yeah" he conceded, looking a little uncomfortable.

"Oh, don't tell me you are ashamed" she smirked.

He glared, still amused. _Ani. _She would call him that from that moment on, he could bet.

"It suited me when I was ten, ok?" he conceded "Now, it just sounds… well, stupid!"

"It doesn't!" Padmé put on a stubborn expression and lifted her chin, as if to challenge him to answer back. It was unbelievable how much of his expression she had become to use.

Sometimes, he wondered how it was even possible that a girl like _Padmé _had accepted to go out with somebody like him. That asshole looked more like Padmé's type. And yet, there she was, smiling and kissing Anakin.

Three days later, Anakin glared down at the speeder he was supposed to fix. Then he silently apologized to the ship.

It was a precious Alpha Six, owned by some of Padmé's classmates. Even after his little debacle with Clovis, some of her friends were surprisingly happy that she dated such a skilled mechanic as Anakin. The boy had seen a beautiful occasion of raising some extra money; now that he had a girlfriend things had become quite expensive. However, the beautiful machine, with a motor that he couldn't help but admire, was giving him an hard time; he just couldn't pinpoint where the problem was. Everything seemed fine, and yet that little baby didn't want to obey the commands. And he was a little afraid of doing the wrong things to that precious beauty. Not because he would ruin the possession of some rich boy, but because Anakin had a big respect for that kind of creatures. He loved machinery. He loved flying –even if it had been a long, long time. And it was only natural for him to _worship_ speeders.

There he was, tinkering with the few instruments they had in this posh garage –the owner hadn't wanted to bring it to the suburbia, in the little shop where Anakin worked. He had also promised Anakin to pay him the double, so the boy had just kept his mouth shut and agreed. That beauty needed care, real care, Anakin reflected. The type of care and love that Anakin's expert hands could give her, not the spoilt and clumsy touch of some upper class boys who didn't deserve to possess such a beauty.

"Mr. Skywalker?" said an old but not unpleasant voice.

"Senator Palpatine, sir" greeted Anakin, slightly surprised that such an important man could actually remember the name of his pupil's new boyfriend. "What are you doing here?" he asked, a little dumbly.

Palpatine let out a benevolent chuckle. "Why, my boy, I live here… At least for the time being" he added with a little wink. Anakin laughed politely, even if he was not sure he had got what Palpatine had meant.

"More importantly, what are you doing here?" asked Palpatine, moving closer to Anakin and his speeder. Anakin saw his two bodyguards exchange a brief look before following him, and wondered slightly if Padmé would have to be followed everywhere by two big boys in her future career.

"I'm fixing this" he gestured to the speeder.

"Is that yours? It is indeed a beautiful piece of mechanics"

"No, no…" answered Anakin with a sad smile. He could only dream. "It's not mine… The owner is one of Padmé's friends.. he lives here, too apparently"

"I see" replied Palpatine, with a thoughtful look, still admiring the ship.

"Do you enjoy mechanics, sir?"

"Oh, I used to, my boy, I used to" Palpatine answered with a little smile "But I was just an admirer, surely not as good as a young promising engineer"

Anakin blushed with pleasure. It was flattering to have somebody as important as Palpatine praising you for your efforts. If Anakin had to be honest, Professor Dooku and Obi-Wan clearly esteemed Anakin, but the first was too rigid to make any kind of compliments and Obi-Wan, well, Obi-Wan found Anakin's tinkering an uncivilized occupation.

"You are too kind, sir" he answered.

"You think?" Palpatine arched an eyebrow, fixing his eyes on Anakin and studying him as he had studied the speeder, as if he was deciding whether Anakin could work or not "I'm not so sure, my young Skywalker"

Anakin tilted his head, a little embarrassed but also curious. "What do you mean?" he asked "Sir?" he added, trying to sound at least polite with such a powerful man.

Palpatine smiled: "I have to go now" he replied, "..but I would be honored to finish our little chat" he added "Feel free to come to my office, whenever you want, my boy"

Anakin nodded even more confused "Thank you" he answered sincerely "I'll come with Padmé.. Miss Naberrie, I mean" he corrected.

Palpatine laughed jovially "A gorgeous girl, Miss Naberrie" he concluded, nodding approvingly to Anakin "If I were you, I wouldn't let her go".

And with that, Senator Palpatine, one of the most powerful men in the entire galaxy, left Anakin alone with his speeder.

"And what exactly did he tell you?"

Anakin's eyes widened "I told you, that I was talented or…"

Obi-Wan shook his head "I mean, about yourself, did he tell you something about mechanics?" he asked, a little urgently.

"No, no, wait..." Anakin looked even more startled by Obi-Wan's reaction "It was just a stupid chat"

"Umh…"

"Besides, he is a _good_ guy" Anakin added setting his jaw in a stubborn expression "I would vote for him, if I was a Republic citizen" he added, hoping to make Obi-Wan laugh and just drop the subject.

But the older man was not really listening, deep in thought "I don't know" he said slowly, after a while "I'm not sure". The boy had the distinct impression that he was talking more to himself than to Anakin. He waved his hand under his professor's nose, trying to catch his attention.

Obi-Wan smiled absently "I don't trust him" he explained, after a while.

"You don't trust any politician, Obi-Wan"

"True" conceded Kenobi "But he is a special case, even for my standards…"

Anakin waited patiently for the older man to conclude his phrase. When Obi-Wan was thinking while he was speaking, it was always the same; it took him about twenty minutes to express concepts as simple as "I'm a male and I'm thirty-six". And that was exactly _why_ Anakin never attended his lectures.

"He is sneaky" explained finally Obi-Wan "He was involved in some strange stuff back in the time.. I don't trust him" he added, sounding even more incoherent than Anakin usually was "And all this appreciation towards you, all of sudden…"

"Ehy!" Anakin protested "There is nothing wrong in appreciating _me_!"

Obi-Wan eyed him distractedly "Of course not, it's just, isn't that _strange_? I mean, don't you think there is something going on?"

"Obi-Wan, what the fuck are talking about?"

"Language, young one!"

"I'm twenty!" Anakin shouted. Kenobi's look pierced through him, as if he was trying to read Anakin's mind. But the boy hold the look, too stubborn to admit defeat. He was so sick and tired of Obi-Wan treating him like a small child.

"Anyway" said Obi-Wan "Stay far from Palpatine, Anakin"

"What are you, _jealous_?" Anakin asked, before he could stop. That was a mean thing to say. Anakin didn't know –and didn't want to- what there had been between Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, but even as a child he had been able to catch Obi-Wan's slight distress towards him. Almost as if Anakin had took Qui-Gon away from Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan sighted "I'm not jealous, Anakin -"

"I know, ok?" the boy replied, turning his head so he didn't have to look into Obi-Wan's piercing eyes "I know.. I just said that because.. Well, I have no idea why I said that"

Obi-Wan nodded silently. Anakin had a good heart and he was a kind boy. But he was so full of anger and Obi-Wan knew he could become really violent if threatened. And that he could hurt people, even if he didn't intend to.

"I don't want you to find yourself involved in something dangerous… Understood?"

Anakin nodded, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. Obi-Wan could be such a pain in the ass, sometimes...

"And besides" continued the professor with a small smirk "You tell me about senators, and you don't tell me anything about girls?"

Anakin stared "How do you… ?" he asked, astonished by Obi-Wan's ability to just know everything about him.

Kenobi smiled knowingly "I know everything, my very young friend".

Anakin threw him a dirty look, his arms crossed, his expression stubborn. "It's none of your business"

"That's right, is not" Obi-Wan conceded, still looking a little amused "Just.. Be careful"

Anakin shook his head astonished "We are not having this conversation"

"No, I mean, be careful…"

"We are _definitely_ not having this conversation"

Obi-Wan laughed "Ok, if it makes you uncomfortable we'll not have this conversation" he smiled "Besides, don't do anything stupid, she likes you"

Anakin looked even more suspicious "Just tell me how you know it…" then sudden realization struck "She told you" he accused. He felt betrayed, a little bit. _Why_ had she told him that?

"She's my student" Obi-Wan explained quickly "She thought you had told me, she just wanted to make me understand that it had nothing to do with her dissertation"

A small lie was better than a bad truth. And something told him that Miss Naberrie had a very good influence on Anakin, and making her look bad in his eyes was not a good idea.

Anakin tilted his head: "She thought you would think that she is dating me only to have a good grade with you?" he summed up.

"Kind of" Obi-Wan smiled "…Besides, have you just used a _conditional_?"

Anakin laughed and crossed his arms "I don't know what are you talking about"

"She _does_ have good influence on you".

**This chapter is about hinting at a lot of stuff that has yet to come. Sorry, nothing happens again (but I do need some linking chapters to make everything hold together)!**

**Thank you all for your support and your reviews :) you are all very kind! **

**And, I am so sorry for any English mistakes I make! And I'm also sorry for having you wait so much time for this chapter, but unfortunately post-grad is very much like bachelor, only worse -.-'**


	7. Chapter 7

_In which things start to happen…_

**Encounters of the third type**

Obi-Wan Kenobi was usually a rational man. He did not rush into things, he did not let his emotions take the best of him and he always thought before acting. He believed only in what he could see or touch or that was rational and logically consistent. Logic, the goddess he had sacrificed the better part of his youth, told him that Qui-Gon had died in an unfortunate accident. And even if it hurt because Obi-Wan had loved him profoundly, suffering did not change the fact that Qui-Gon was dead and that his murderer –a petty criminal whom he pitied more than he resented- was still locked in a cell somewhere. He had witnessed the scene, he had seen the professor being shot and fall to his knees. He had seen the murderer throw the gun and run away. He had felt his body move toward Qui-Gon, his mind still paralyzed.

He had felt life abandon his old body and that was it. Personal suffering, love, loss did not affect, could not affect, the fact that the world still functioned under the cold and impartial laws of case and logic -Obi-Wan considered pouring himself a –well deserved- glass of liquor. Obi-Wan did not believe in plotting, in theories and in histories. An yet there he was again, leafing through the pages of an old document, still looking, still searching. Because, yes, Qui-Gon had died in a stupid accident and his murderer was just a petty criminal. And yet, there were all those hints, those strange whisperings, those little contradictions that nobody –nor the police, nor anyone else- seemed to notice. And there, there was Palpatine, this strange, incredibly popular politician, who probably would win the upcoming elections. Obi-Wan had encountered his name –or better, he had encountered the whisper of his name- many times before, during his research. And now, that same old man, who seemed so direct and honest -who seemed to be implicated in any sort of criminal activity- now, he was taking an interest in Anakin. Obi-Wan took a sip of his drink, his eyes dark. He had promised he would protect the boy. _I won't fail you Qui-Gon. _

((((()))))

Padmé was studying. She really was. Almost for five minutes.

She was already late with her schedule; to be able to read all the books at least seven times –as she usually did for exams- she should have started to study the day before. She had postponed it, because Anakin had a free afternoon and it made no sense spending it studying when she could have her boyfriend's hot body pressed against hers and they could just kiss and kiss again.

She sighted, an hungry longing in her stomach. She craved his kisses and his touch, firm and gentle, which made her shiver, feel very stupid and very happy at the same time. She was not the kind of girl who fell for the strong, physical type, dangerous and cocky –except she apparently was. Up until Anakin, she had liked clever, intellectual boys who despised physical work and who opened doors for her and give her way –even if she had always thought that they were only chauvinist, retrograde traditions.

Anakin might be clever, but he was not intellectual. He was quite brilliant -and plainly ignorant. But he listened to her with an interested frown, trying to make sense of the intricate world of politics she described to him and he affectionately made fun of her idealistic attitude, telling her that she might as well marry the Senate if she liked it so much. He couldn't quite grasp her passionate love for ideals, for democracy and freedom, but at least he seemed to respect it –something that Padmé found refreshing compared to the sly and vicious approval she got from a lot of other people, who nodded and agreed and then would just betray everything they stood for, for greed, power or control. Anakin was completely different; he didn't give a damn about laws or governments, about form in general; all that mattered to him was that he and his loved ones were happy and safe.

"I think we just need someone with enough power to fix everything" he had said, startling her.

"But that would be a dictatorship!"

"But it could work, couldn't it?" he had replied stubbornly "It could hurry up things.. Get the bureaucrats work faster"

Padmé had wanted to ask _why_ he wanted bureaucrats to work faster, but she had the feeling that it had to do with his mom, and she hadn't wanted to upset him. In those months with Anakin she had learnt that his past was a no-fly zone and that he would stubbornly keep silent about the entire story, letting out only little pieces of information.

Then again, his world was black and white, true, but Padmé thought that when you had known real dictatorship, real famine and you had lived outside any kind legislation, you had to believe in an absolute good and in an absolute evil, to defend yourself from the terrible world you had to face. She _had_ the privilege of seeing the shades.

She sighted again. Another half an hour had gone and all she had done was thinking about Anakin. _Her_ Anakin, she thought with stupid rush of pride. Not that he really was _hers_, not yet. Even if they had been dating for a while, they had never had the occasion. Well, they had, but he hadn't made anything, probably fearing a rejection and Padmé –with all her talks about fair opportunities and equality- would never take the initiative.

Not sober and not in her right mind, for sure.

But she was starting to wonder _when _they would. She was too timid to raise the subject, and he was probably thinking she was not ready, not yet. She wondered how it would be to do _that_ with Anakin, and she had started fantasizing about it a little –a lot. She was not an expert but she had liked –she had liked it a lot- when he had touched her, sometimes gentle and slow, some other times passionate and eager, almost hurting, but not quite. She was as twisted as he was but, _man_, how she liked this double nature of his; half dangerous and dark and mysterious, half reassuring, and insecure and almost worshipping her with his clear look of love and adoration.

(She refused to ask Dormé or Bail –she still had a dignity).

Padmé sighted for the fourth time that afternoon. Other forty minutes gone and she had read –and forgotten- only two pages.

She looked outside the window. It was another sunny day, hot and windy; a pity to spend it closed in her room, pretending to study. She glanced at her watch again. It would take her about an hour to reach Anakin's block. And by that time he would have only one hour of work left, after which they could take a walk together or just go somewhere private to snog. She could just close her book and go find her boyfriend. She had never been at Anakin's house and she had never seen the mechanic shop where he worked, but she was sure she had his address written somewhere. It would not be too difficult. She could just stay there and wait for him to finish. She wouldn't bother or interrupt him. And there wasn't much difference between one or two days late on the schedule.

((((()))))

Anakin was indeed working in the little shop. He glanced at the office table; Ahsoka was there, doing her homework and looking pretty satisfied with herself. She seemed tranquil enough even if they had argued again about her clothing –or lack of- and Anakin had gotten very irritated. She was clearly trying to look older and he was clearly trying to prevent it.

He took a rag to clean up his hands a little, before passing to another piece. He had started taking Ahsoka with him at work. He didn't like the idea of leaving her alone to herself now that Jess was always out with her new boyfriend. Besides, Anakin was gone almost all the afternoons and evenings and he was starting to feel a little guilty about it. Moreover, Ahsoka enjoyed mechanics, almost as Anakin did. So there they were, and Anakin was perfectly happy and at peace. Except for the forgettable fact that he was going completely and utterly mad, everything was absolutely perfect.

Because, yeah, the situation was getting out of control, he thought, forcing a little bit the reactor. The ship made a strange noise and Ahsoka looked up at him.

"You don't have to kill the thing you know it?"

"Shut. Up."

"You don't have the money to pay it back if you break it"

"_Shut_. Up."

He looked around, trying to locate the piece he needed, considering again his upcoming madness. He couldn't ask, she wouldn't tell.

They would kiss and touch –well, _he_ would touch, which he did rather gladly- and Anakin would get really, really uncomfortable. Then they would stop. Just like that. Her mom would suddenly announce _honey, I'm home _and Anakin would have to start thinking about death and destruction and about Principal Yoda having sex. Up until a certain point it had worked. Then, _madness_. And anger. Because, for some obscure reasons, his raging hormones made him angry. Not with Padmé of course; she was beautiful and timid and Anakin was much happier now that he was with her, than ever before and she had all the right to ask him to wait. He would wait for all the time she asked him to; also because when he was with her it really didn't matter, as long as she was happy.

But when she wasn't with him, he was fucking angry. The day before he had snapped with Obi-Wan just because he had asked Anakin to pass him the sugar –which was crazy and pretty uncalled for even for his standards. And he was getting distracted, too. That same morning in class, after a particular complicated calculus, Dooku had asked Anakin to give the solution –usually Anakin _had_ the solution- and it had come out that he had gotten wrong the entire exercise because he had made four _arithmetic _mistakes. Something which hadn't happened to Anakin since he was three. Dooku had been so surprised that had asked if he had used some deathsticks before coming to class. Anakin would have very much liked to explain that mummy that with deathsticks he could solve functions –as long as he could hold the pen- but he had hold back his tongue. _Restrained, with Dooku. _That was unprecedented, too.

Hence, the approaching madness theory. Crazy, distracted, hating Obi-Wan, respectful with Dooku. He would wait, yes, but the waiting would drive him mad. _Padmé_ was driving him mad, with all the little, sexy sounds she made when he was on top of her, closing her eyes and biting her lips, calling softly his name… One day he would wake up and slaughter children or kittens, just because. He sighted, preparing himself for a life in prison, and started looking at another old ship he had to adjust. Mechanics was helping a little; it got him distracted enough from his murder instincts.

"Ok, just tell me" said Ahsoka matter-of-factly "_Who_ is your girlfriend?"

Anakin stiffened defensively "What makes you think that I have a girlfriend?"

Her eyebrow arched "You shower twice a day, Skyguy" she pointed out "one to be all clean and pretty for your lady and the other one to m-"

"Thank you, Ahsoka!" he almost added _do not remind me_, but he stopped just in time. He still had some dignity.

Ahsoka grinned devilishly "So, you have a girlfriend. Is she pretty?"

"None of your business!"

"Then she is" Ahsoka followed him to the next speeder "Have you calibrated it?" she asked.

Anakin stopped tinkering and looked up to her "Do you think I'm dumb?" he asked with irritation, but he checked quickly the calibration. Speaking of distraction..

"Just asking" she defended, handing him the screwer she knew he needed.

"So, she is pretty, she doesn't live hereby or I would know and she must be clever if she's making you wait so much time".

Anakin dropped the screwer, considering that he could kill Ahsoka and get off-planet before the police tracked him down. But he just glared darkly at her.

"What do you think you know about my sexual life?" he snapped.

_Great mistake, Skywalker_. Ahsoka's smile grew only wider.

"You don't have a sexual life and that's exactly the problem".

That what enough. Anakin just forgot about the speeder and took the younger girl's arm. She let out a small cry and struggle to get Anakin off her. He started tickling her, making her laughing wildly.

She kicked and struggled, but he wasn't letting go.

"Stop!"

"You deserved it, you little, freaking-"

"Ani?"

Both Ahsoka and Anakin froze and stared at the source of the voice.

"Padmé!" he exclaimed, thinking that that might not be the ideal position to be found by your girlfriend. He was covered with oil and he had a fourteen year old dressed like a common whore seated on his lap. _I was just trying to kill her because she pointed out that I'm not getting any _wasn't going to sound like a good excuse.

"I'm sorry" said Padmé blushing slightly "they told me that you were here and-"

But Ahsoka took charge before they both could do anything.

"Then it's you!" she said getting up, pointing a finger toward Padmé, as if accusing her of some terrible actions.

Padmé looked surprised at her: "Pardon?"

"_Ani's_ mystery girl" the girl smiled, ignoring Anakin's attempt at kicking her. _Ani. _

She offered her hand to the older girl: "I'm Ahsoka, nice to meet you"

"Padmé, nice to meet you, too" she said smiling warmly. Anakin could see that Ahsoka was a little under the same spell Miss Naberrie's sweetness casted on him. She was so warm and endearing that people like him and Ahsoka couldn't help but feel safe. But then again that was Ahsoka and she wouldn't be easy to be charmed. He could tell that Padmé was a little scandalized by Ahsoka's choice of clothing. But she was smiling to the girl, wasn't she?

"So" started Ahsoka breaking the embarrassed silence that had fallen "where have you met?"

"Ahsoka? Homework, yes?" gritted Anakin. He couldn't insult the child in front of Padmé, could he? Ahsoka smiled again, probably perfectly conscious that he couldn't be his usual self in front of his girlfriend.

"You know, Ani here" she complained, all sweet and false "didn't tell me anything about you two".

"Oh" said Padmé, a little disappointed. Anakin threw Ahsoka a dirty look; the little demon had the decency to look sheepish and to avoid his gaze.

"Well, for instance, he didn't tell me you were _that_ pretty!" Ahsoka added with a big smile, to try and fix the situation. Anakin had a very _bad_ feeling about it.

Padmé flushed: "T-thank you" she said. Then she glanced at Anakin. He looked quite hot, with his ruffled hair, his simple clothing and some stains on his face and hands that made his blue eyes sparkle even more. She wanted so bad to kiss him, but he hadn't made any gesture to move closer to her, probably because of Ahsoka's presence. Which was pretty confusing because Anakin was never bothered by very public displays of affection.

"Ok, Ahsoka, stop make her uncomfortable" he glared.

"I'm not" the girl retorted "I'm just being friendly.. anyway he still has a lot to do" she told Padmé, gesturing back at Anakin. "How ice-cream sounds?" she asked finally, smiling widely at the older girl.

"_Snips_."

"C'mon Skyguy! I won't eat her!"

"It's ok" interjected Padmé "I would be lovely to have an ice-cream" answered Padmé ignoring Anakin's denial gestures.

"See? She wants to come!" Ahsoka showed him her tongue "We'll be back soon!" and with that she grabbed Padmé's hand and Anakin was left to himself. He had a very bad feeling about it.

Ahsoka wasn't really sure of what she should think about Padmé. True, she was uptight –but she also seemed very sweet. True, she was a little posh –but she was _so_ elegant. And she clearly didn't know what to do with Ahsoka –but she was making an effort to be nice without being false.

"You shouldn't have paid" repeated Padmé, her doe eyes wide.

"Don't worry" answered Ahsoka, smiling mischievously "Besides, they are Anakin's money" she added.

Padmé laughed, noticing that as soon as they had left Anakin's presence, Ahsoka had dropped his affectionate nickname, going for his full name. She _was_ a little monkey.

"So what were you studying before?" Ahsoka looked puzzled. Never in her life, she would have expected a girlfriend of Anakin's to be concerned about her _studying_. Half of them had wanted to impress her, and to be her best friend; the other half had treated her as if she was a dangerous rival in Anakin's affection and made crazy assumptions about their relationship. _As if_, some random girl could be what Ahsoka was for Anakin.

Padmé was asking about her _studying. _

"I don't know" her blue eyes sparkling "I mean… biology" she added when she noticed that Padmé had made a strange expression. As if she was disapproving Ahsoka for not studying. The younger girl narrowed her eyes, thinking that Padmé shouldn't _dare_. Anakin was enough a pain in the ass these days, she didn't need another mommy to tell her what to do.

A tiny, little part of her felt a little hurt, however. Ahsoka was not stupid, she knew it. She might not be as clever as Anakin was, but she was talented enough to make something with her life and she didn't want to look dumb in front of this new girl.

"I don't like it" Ahsoka explained "But I get high marks anyway"

Padmé smiled "Of course" she answered "Anakin told me that you are quite brilliant"

Ahsoka's eyes widened with pleasure "Did he?". She _loved_ to be praised by Anakin. And maybe, maybe, Padmé was not so bad after all.

"Yes" Padmé smiled reassuringly "He can be nice, if he tries hard"

Ahsoka laughed. Padmé was probably better than she had expected, even if she still need a little testing on Ahsoka's side.

"So" she started again, enjoying her strawberry ice-cream "How long have you been dating?" Ahsoka had made some suppositions, but she couldn't really it.

Padmé blushed again, eying her -the very idea of speaking about relationships with a fourteen year girl, she barely knew, making her uncomfortable.

"About three months" she said slowly. Ahsoka bit unconsciously her lower lip, reasoning that it must be serious if he was willing to wait so much time. She knew that they weren't really having sex, Anakin being the least subtle person in the whole world. And she knew that Padmé was just a frigid freak if she didn't want to. A tiny little part of her found it romantic, though. Not that Ahsoka would know, she herself still a virgin, but she had listened to older girls speak and she knew that three months was _kind of _a record.

"Congratulations" Ahsoka replied with good humor "They don't usually last that long, you know?" she added, curious to know how Padmé would react to ex-girlfriends mention.

"Oh" she said simply, unsure if she should be happy or not.

"You must seriously like each other" continued Ahsoka, a strange emotion starting to gather in her guts. _She will take him from you_, an evil little voice inside her said, and _you will be alone again_.

Padmé smiled again, a little embarrassed. She could feel Ahsoka's distress a little.

"Do you like mechanics, too?" she asked desperate to change subject.

"Yes" Ahsoka answered excitedly "Skyguy told me everything about it… He used it to make me shut up, but it was pretty cool" she explained fondly. "I'm like the only girl around here who can tell the difference between a speeder and a cargo ship!" she concluded proudly.

Padmé laughed a little "How long have you known each other?" she asked again, having the distinct feeling that Ahsoka just loved to talk about Anakin.

"He was kind of my tutor when I first came to the Institute" she replied "Well, you know when he had problems back then.." she continued, finishing her ice-cream "You would say that they were completely crazy to have this arrangement, I mean… I was ten and he was always high and always doing every kind of crazy shit…"

But that, Ahsoka could tell, was a bad mistake. Padmé's expression was so astonished and her eyes so wide that the girl would have laughed, had the situation not been so desperate.

Padmé laughed a little, the smile not quite reaching her worried eyes: "_High_?"

"He quitted" Ahsoka replied quickly "He did take good care of me" she concluded. Skyguy was so going to kill her after this. And Padmé did not look so convinced. Ahsoka almost wanted to laugh in her face; Anakin was probably the most decent guy they had in a range of kilometers. He didn't have any serious addiction, his criminal record was clean –well, apart from the little fact about being a clandestine child- and he was enrolled in a _university_. What Padmé could possibly want more than that?

But here he was, approaching them with his confident grin.

"Hello ladies, what did I miss?" he asked, sitting almost symbolically between the two of them.

"Nothing" Ahsoka told him, a bit too quickly. Anakin's smile fell a little. He had a bad feeling about this.

"She told me that you took care of her when she was little" Interjected Padmé "You didn't tell me that you were her tutor" she added, smiling fondly to her boyfriend. As much as he wanted to hide his past from her, she wasn't stupid and she couldn't really be angry with him if he had used drugs when he was sixteen.

"Did she?" replied Anakin, eyeing Ahsoka a little surprised. The girl smiled innocently, still a bit incredulous that Padmé had decided to cover for her.

They looked pretty together, after all.

((((()))))

"Ok" Ahsoka took a deep breath, assuming a solemn air: "Skyguy, if you let her go you are the stupidest man alive"

Anakin looked surprised at her: "So, you like her?" he asked, wandering why Ahsoka's opinion mattered so much to him.

"She's great" Ahsoka answered quickly "even if she's totally uncool, kind of".

Anakin didn't say anything, considering that it probably was the best definition of Padmé one could get. _Great and totally uncool, kind of_.

"She'll be a good Skygirl" Ahsoka added matter-of-factly and Anakin felt something very warm and big growing in his chest. He gripped Ahsoka's shoulder, trying to express her the affection he couldn't express with words.

((((()))))

Cliegg Lars sighted, his heart heavy, tiredness and worry weighting heavily on his old bones. He glanced at his son, who looked just as worried as he was and he felt a rush of affection for the boy; Shmi wasn't his real mother and yet he seemed sincerely anxious.

"We should call her son" he declared.

Owen nodded slowly, his body tensing. They had never met Anakin Skywalker, but they knew the boy had had an hard time accepting his mom's marriage.

Cliegg sighted again "We will wait the end of the week, as the officer said"

Owen looked up to his fathers "We'll find her, dad.." and there would be no need at all to call Anakin.

**Thank you thank you for reviews and following/favouriting :) I know, I'm late but you know exams happen once in a while D: **

**KEEP ON R/R :D you make me happy and pleased with myself (and you help, I corrected a lot thanks to your advices, so thanks :) ) **


	8. Chapter 8

_In which everything just goes ka-boom…_

**Of Mothers and two types of Hunger**

Anakin was early, probably for the first time in his entire life. He had an appointment with Padmé in a hour and he was already in front of the Senate building where they had agreed to meet. He had finished his job earlier, and he had directly gone there. He hadn't realized that it would mean that he would have to wait for an hour. He considered briefly to call his girlfriend and to anticipate their date, but he knew she was studying and he didn't really want to disturb her. He glanced up at the majestic building and shifted his weight a little, uncomfortably. Senator Palpatine had said he could just drop by sometimes. He knew that Obi-Wan would disapprove, but it wouldn't be the first time he did something that bothered his professor.

Besides, Anakin must admit that yes, the old man's comments had flattered him. And it didn't happen to him so often that some stranger took such an interest on him. And if they did it wasn't someone as important as Palpatine, and it wasn't because of his talent.

He could just go and finish their chat. Padmé had obtained a summer stage because Palpatine believed in young talented people. And probably Obi-Wan was just being paranoid –or jealous, said a little mean voice in the back of Anakin's mind.

He had expected to be blocked or questioned, but nobody seemed to give him much attention when he entered the building. He still had the little card Padmé had enthusiastically given him, when he had told her about Palpatine. He should only follow the indication on it and tell everybody that he had an appointment with Senator Palpatine and that he was a good friend of Naberries –Padmé had blushed a little in telling him so, fearing he would take it as arrogance on her side. But he didn't even have to pronounce her name, just following the instructions and the indications painted on the walls.

When he finally got in front of Palpatine's office a secretary, with a bored look, eyed him suspiciously.

"I would like to speak with the Senator" he explained.

The secretary arched an eyebrow, her look even more suspicious: "Have you got an appointment?" she asked.

"No" started Anakin feeling very stupid "But he told me to come anytime I want to" he replied, a little weakly.

The secretary did not move, throwing him a glance of contempt mixed with a little pity. Anakin glared at her, feeling suddenly very angry at himself for having though that someone like him could just drop by and see an important Senator. But, as almost every denial in Anakin's life, it made him even more desperate to get what he wanted.

"Call him" he ordered, his authoritative voice sounding strange to his own ears "Tell him that a Naberr- no, tell him Anakin Skywalker wants to finish the chat" he corrected himself, taken by a sudden inspiration.

The secretary frowned, but she did pick up the phone, a little startled by the authoritative tone of the boy in front of her. She was used to power and she could feel when somebody had it, however strange he might look.

"Senator?" she said, her voice sweet and professional "There is a boy in front of me, he wishes to speak with you" she explained, eyeing Anakin again. He hold her gaze fiercely. "His name is Skywalker" she spoke again.

She jolted a little, her eyes suddenly wide with surprise "Of course, Senator". She hung up, still looking slightly surprised.

"He said he's free right now" she told Anakin, smiling him widely this time "You may enter" she encouraged, still smiling. Anakin nodded slowly, hoping he didn't look as surprised as he felt. It was the first time in his entire life that his surname brought him somewhere –except for jail, of course.

"My dear boy" Palpatine greeted him enthusiastically "You are most welcomed, take a seat" he added gesturing toward the large armchair facing his desk.

Anakin, regretting he had decided to come at all, seated. "Thank you, sir".

"So, what can I do for you?" Palpatine asked, jovially.

"Nothing!" Anakin replied quickly "I mean… I don't want to ask you anything.." he added. Well, he wanted to ask something, but he didn't want to ask for any favor. He opened his mouth to explain himself, but Palpatine seemed to understand without any need for further explanations.

"I'm sorry, Anakin" he said "I'm just so used about people always wanting something that I'm always taken aback by young, honest people as yourself and Miss Naberrie…"

Anakin nodded silently, his gaze following Palpatine as the old man had suddenly stood.

"You know?" the senator considered "That is exactly why I like you, my boy". Anakin tried a tentative smile, puzzled by the Senator.

"You are different, aren't you?" he asked, fixing a strange look on Anakin "You are nothing like your classmates" he accused, throwing Anakin a knowing look.

Anakin hold his gaze, stiff and suspicious: "What do you mean?"

"Oh, my boy, there is nothing to be ashamed of" he continued "I saw you tinkering with that speeder, I could tell it wasn't yours…"

Anakin stayed silent, his look hardening, his heart racing.

"You have to work for rich boys, who have never had to lift a finger to do anything, don't you?" the Senator spoke again, probably unaware of the raging anger building inside the boy's stomach "And yet you have something that they will never have and which is worth so much more than money".

Anakin tilted his head again, surprised. The man had clearly lost his mind, and yet Anakin was strangely fascinated by his discourse.

"You have talent, Anakin" he explained simply "And even more important than that, you have what I like to call _hunger…_" he concluded, his eyes lighted up with a strange, triumphant emotion.

"I…" Anakin started "I'm not very sure I understand what you mean, Senator" he said slowly.

(But he knew, he knew it very well what the old man meant, even if he didn't have a name for it. It was that constant suffocating push he felt; that little something that made him very angry at Ferus Olin, because he was rich _and _talented; and at Rush Clovis, who felt he was better than Anakin because he wore clothes that probably cost more than his annual wage; and at Obi-Wan because no matter how much he could love Anakin, he would never really, truly understand; and yes, even at Padmé, because she was so much more than him it was suffocating).

"It never goes away" whispered Palpatine, deliberately ignoring Anakin's comment "I was born in a modest family, too" he explained "And when I was more or less your age, I discovered that my rage, my determination to show _them_, my hunger, were my true strength".

Anakin nodded slowly "But now, now you are a powerful man" he said aloud, admitting the obvious.

Palpatine laughed "My boy, the power is just an illusion" he replied "You have all the power the others feel like giving you... And if you are born with it, you just take it for granted, you don't really have it… Only if you have this hunger it, for a better life, for _everything_, you will be able to achieve power, true power…" he took a deep breath, visibly excited "And remember this about power… only those who have known what it means to be hungry and powerless can achieve it".

Anakin stared at the Senator, having the distinct feeling that this man could understand him better than anyone else had ever done. Palpatine knew what it felt to be powerless, he knew what it felt to be desperate, he knew what it felt to be _Anakin_. And with the sudden force of realization, he understood that this man was somehow destined to be his mentor, not Padmé's.

"Would you like to have some tea?" asked Palpatine, the excited glint not really leaving his eyes. Anakin was about to refuse, but the Senator added "I'll ask my secretary to make some".

For some reasons that Obi-Wan would probably love to investigate, that made him change his mind.

"Yes, please, sir" Anakin replied.

((((()))))

She wasn't merely curious, Padmé told herself again. And if she was there again, sitting in front of professor Kenobi, asking questions she shouldn't ask, it was only because she knew it was the right thing to do.

"Don't get me wrong, professor" she tried again "It's not that he doesn't want to tell me…" she took a deep breath, acknowledging she had found a valid opponent and considering that maybe utter honesty was the best strategy with Obi-Wan.

"Sometimes, I feel that he is a little ashamed and doesn't tell me because…" she lowered her gaze "..because we are different" she explained slowly, with a deep breath.

She looked up again, eyeing her professor and feeling completely taken aback. She had expected another kind refusal, a gentle invitation to go, an answer, even rage. But the only thing she could read in Obi-Wan's expression was _pain_. An old, piercing pain, that made Padmé regret she had come at all.

"All right" the professor said softly: "I can tell that, probably… what you think… it is only part of the truth".

Padmé was feeling like an intruder at such display of suffering and wanted to say that she was very sorry and that she should really go; but, at the same time, she was hypnotized by Obi-Wan's calm figure, by his soothing voice and by a morbid curiosity. Obi-Wan was not very sure of what he was doing, other than betraying Anakin's trust. But something inside him told him that Padmé had a good influence on the boy and that he could only benefit if she knew the whole story.

"Anakin and his mom came to Coruscant when he was about six" he started slowly. Padmé nodded. That much, she knew; he had told her that he was born on a "deserted rock", ruled by some criminal organization whose name he didn't even remember. And that he and his mom had escaped it, entering into the Republic protection.

"She found a job and got her son enrolled in a school, you see…"

Padmé nodded slowly again, knowing that something bad was to come.

"She didn't have any documents, but she had found this charity institution where she could bring Anakin when she was working until late…" Obi-Wan sighted, as if it was physically painful for him to speak those words "That's where they met Qui-Gon.."

Padmé jolted: "Qui-Gon?" she asked "You mean, like _professor Jinn_?"

Obi-Wan nodded slowly. She had seen the tablet dedicated to professor Jinn many times, just at the entrance of the university. He had been killed in a shooting, hadn't he?

"Yes, he was a mathematics professor here, but he felt his real mission was to dedicate his life helping others.."

And Padmé could swear she had seen something, the ghost of an old mocking expression on Obi-Wan's face. But that also seemed heavily buried under years of grief. _Pathetic life form._

"… And he was teaching in difficult schools during his free time… he met Anakin and.." Padmé was astonished to see Obi-Wan let out a small laugh ".. You know I still remember that day… I had never seen Qui-Gon so excited about something…"

"He was sure that Anakin was a real genius in math, even if he performed under the average in all the other subjects…" Obi-Wan chuckled again, so lost in his memory that probably he had even forgotten that Padmé was there "… He talked to Anakin's mom and assured her that her son had a great talent and that of course he would have a great future... he started tutoring Anakin personally, encouraging his math potential and pretty much everything else..."

Obi-Wan fell silent again and looked at her, as if wondering if he should go on at all "Qui-Gon was very fond of Anakin" he explained simply, and again Padmé almost could see the signs of an old emotion, washed away by years and grief. It was something similar to jealousy, but not quite.

"Then" he started again "Well, Shmi, I mean, Anakin's mom didn't have the documents... and when they found out, Qui-Gon was able to intercede only for Anakin…"

Padmé felt something very big and heavy on her shoulders, as if all the weight of the story was about to fall on her.

"… Shmi Skywalker might not be educated, but she _is_ a clever woman… When Qui-Gon told her that her child could have a better future if he remained on this planet, under his care… She had to leave, she wouldn't help her son staying there and risking prison, after expulsion…"

Padmé looked like she had been slapped.

"How old was he?"

"Nine, ten, give or take" Obi-Wan frowned "But about this part of the story you should really ask Anakin, it's not my story to tell.. and I wasn't really part of it.."

Padmé nodded silently, waiting for the rest of the story.

"Qui-Gon found a place there for Anakin, at the institute, I mean… His grades were improving and Qui-Gon's presence was enough to keep him out of troubles…"

Obi-Wan fell silent again and it took Padmé some moments to guess what had happened after. Not that there was a real need to guess. She _knew_, she had seen the tablet; Qui-Gon Jinn had died six years before in a shooting. It had been a tragic incident; the shot was not intended for the respected and kind mathematics teacher. He had just found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. A difficult block, they had said, and Padmé hold her breath again, realizing that it was where Anakin lived.

"I was there" said Obi-Wan very slowly, looking out of the window and not quite making eye contact with her "… He made me promised to help Anakin to pass the admission test here and to get him a scholarship."

Padmé was speechless. She had expected a difficult past. But she hadn't expect _that, _and most of all she hadn't expect Obi-Wan to be so pained by it. She looked a bit sheepish.

"I took care of him" he continued, softly "… He had a tough period, with Qui-Gon dead and his mother marrying again.."

Padmé jolted, a little surprised. There came the drug period Ahsoka had told her about.

"I made him pass… even if I wasn't Qui-Gon."

And that, Padmé had the distinct impression, was the thing that pained him most.

"I… thank you, professor Kenobi".

"Miss Naberrie, I didn't tell you this to satisfy your curiosity.." he warned gently "I told you everything because there are times when Anakin…" he sighted.

"He can be difficult and there are many contradictions in him… And knowing his past may help you understand him" he explained simply. Padmé nodded again.

"He will tell you if you ask.." Obi-Wan started again "But be careful, it's painful for him"

Padmé swallowed. She was too confuse to understand whether she had been right to come or not.

"And suffering makes bad things to people… it can make them angry, and dangerous" Obi-Wan continued almost whispering and lowering his gaze.

Padmé couldn't tell if he was talking about Anakin or about himself.

She left without saying any other word.

(((())))

When she finally reached Anakin in front of the Senate building, she hugged him, before he could say anything. He looked surprised, but smiled anyway, burying his face in her hair.

"Hey" he said softly "What happened?"

Padmé shook her head, only tightening her grip on him. She hadn't realized how much she loved –yes, loved- him, not until she had discovered how much he a had been through. Not because she pitied him or because she felt he deserved love after all the tragedy in his past. No, she had just realized that she had already fallen in love with him; or the story Obi-Wan told her wouldn't have taken all the air from her lugs and set an heavy stone in her stomach. She didn't want it to happen to him again; she wanted him happy and safe and she wanted him protected from every kind of suffering or harm. And that in Padmé's limited experience was _love_. She had fallen in love with him.

"Padmé?" he asked, freeing himself gently from her embrace but still holding her hands.

"I don't feel like going to the movie" she said softly "Why don't we go home?"

He tilted his head, even more surprised, but nodded, his blue eyes clear as the sky above them.

"Are you sure you are ok?" He asked again, still holding her hand and looking at her with adoration.

Padmé nodded silently. She didn't want to tell him about her conversation with professor Kenobi; she didn't want to hear the story anymore and she felt the urge to bury his past, as much as Anakin did.

"Mom? Sola?" Padmé asked, entering her house, leaving Anakin hand only to turn on the lights. The house seemed empty. She went directly to the kitchen, leaving Anakin to wonder in her living room a bit embarrassed. She found a little note on the table, written in her mom's elegant handwriting.

_Padmé, your sister and I decided we deserved a night in the Grand Hotel! Don't worry and don't study too much! We come back tomorrow morning, _

_Kisses, mom_

Padmé took the note and trashed it. Her dad was still off-planet, leaving the house completely empty for her alone. She instinctively caressed her own leg, discovering satisfied that it was perfectly waxed.

"Padmé?"

And Anakin, of course. She didn't think too much and turn to hug again her boyfriend. She kissed him gently, barely touching his lips with hers. Anakin smiled, surprised and happy to have her so affectionate; he deepened the kiss, holding her more tightly and instinctively taking charge. She grinned briefly against his lips, when he started caressing slightly her back, letting him know that the touch was most welcomed.

Without interrupting the kiss, she lead him in the living room again, pushing him toward the couch. She felt almost drunk and she wasn't really sure of what she was going to do. Anakin had closed his eyes, enjoying the moment –hoping that it would just last forever. Palpatine was right, oh yes, he was. Anakin was so hungry of just everything, of life, of power, and most of all of Padmé. He let her push him on the couch, his head almost spinning with arousal when she seated on his lap, her legs spread, her nose only inches from his own.

He considered briefly to stop her in case her mom would suddenly come back, but then Padmé bitted gently his neck, sliding an hand under his shirt and he just decided to give up. He didn't _want_ to stop. He wanted her so much. He didn't know, not yet, but Padmé had suddenly decided that she was not going to stop this, not really, not when she could caress his muscles and feel his firm touch on her tights. She wanted him. She _loved_ him. She was not going to stop him, not when he was unbuttoning her shirt and raising her skirt to have more bare skin to touch and to kiss. She took off the shirt, feeling a little exposed. She met his eyes, dark with pleasure and excitement. Almost instinctively she covered her breasts when he took off her bra –his hands a little too skilled to her liking.

"Don't cover" he commanded, taking her hands into his "You're beautiful" he said, bending to kiss her again. Padmé smiled, moaning a little because yes, he was skilled –much more skilled than she was probably. He didn't seem to complain about her lack of experiences, his mouth leaving a trail of kisses on her necks and shoulder.

Then, she suddenly stopped him holding his hands still, locking eyes with him. She blushed furiously, and Anakin dreaded for a moment that she wouldn't let him go on. He felt he was going to cry in frustration, sure that he had never been so hard in his entire life..

"Can we go to my bedroom?" she asked timidly.

Anakin kissed her fiercely, pushing her to her feet and standing himself. He picked her up into his arms, making her laugh in surprise. She smiled, holding him tightly, half-naked and a little worried he might drop her. He kissed her again, walking slowly toward the stairs.

If her ladyship wanted a bed, a bed she shall have.

((((()))))

The next morning, it took Anakin several seconds to realize that indeed he wasn't in his bed, and that Padmé was sleeping soundly next to him, a little cuddled against his side. And it took him another bunch of moments to realize that the buzzing thing that had woken him up was, indeed, his phone.

He jumped out of bed, almost slipping on his own clothes spread on the floor; they had overslept, for sure, he considered. _Damn, _he swore on his head, running to get the call on time. That was his boss calling and he was probably fucking late.

But when he reached his phone, he realized that it was still eight in the morning and that he didn't know the number that had been calling. It didn't seem to come from Coruscant, but it wasn't his mom's either. Not that they talked much, recently.

"Ani?" A soft voice called. Anakin smiled, forgetting everything and getting back to bed.

"Good morning" he murmured softly, kissing her on the forehead. Padmé closed her eyes again in pleasure.

"Are we late?"

He chuckled "Only for breakfast". They had skipped dinner and after all the activity they had engaged with the night before, he was starving.

Padmé laughed, drawing him closer to her "I don't think so" she murmured. Anakin closed his eyes and let himself being absorbed by the kiss. Maybe breakfast could wait a little bit more.

But much to Anakin's dismay, his phone started buzzing again after only five minutes. He groaned separating from his girlfriend. It was the unknown number, again; whoever it was, he or she was really desperate to speak with him.

Padmé laughed at his confused expression "Answer, I won't leave you because you received a call", she said approaching him and pressing a gentle kiss on his shoulder.

Anakin smiled, pressing the green button: "Hello?" he said, trying to stay focused on the answer, while Padmé kissed his collarbone.

Padmé had closed her eyes, still kissing him, enjoying his scent and his hot body under her. She heard some words spoken by his mysterious interlocutor and she could tell it wasn't basic. She considered happily that after the call she would totally ask him which languages he could spoke. She was so happy and so madly in love, she felt she didn't have the words to express her emotions. She laughed when he stopped her, sure that he was getting _too uncomfortable_ again.

Then, she looked at him and froze. Anakin was suddenly very pale, his expression blank, his eyes filled with fear. Padmé felt her heart sink, hearing him spoke few words of a language she couldn't understand; she had never seen him in such a distress, not even when they had met Clovis and he looked like he was going to murder the guy.

He spoke again and hung up, not quite meeting her gaze.

"Anakin?" Padmé asked, her voice filled with worry.

"It's my mother…" he said with a small voice –she could bet his hand was trembling a little with repressed emotion "I have to go back.. I have to go to Tatooine".


	9. Chapter 9

**A series of very bad decisions**

The moment Anakin hung the phone he realized two things. First, he had to get to Tatooine as fast as possible. Second, that was probably going to be worst decision of his young life. He was utterly terrified.

Padmé looked at him and felt something very big and very heavy sat on her stomach.

"What happened?" she asked timidly, trying to force a weak smile on her face.

"My mother…" he sighted, getting to his feet ".. she is nowhere to be found.. her husband just called me.." Padmé didn't miss the contempt he put on the word 'husband'.

"It's already a week" he added furiously. A fucking week. They had waited a _week _to call him, as if he was some distant relative and not her only _son. _

"I can call my dad" Padmé suggested weakly "He may be able to help".

"I have to go back to Tatooine" he repeated, his mind already considering how to get there.

"There must be something we can do" murmured Padmé, watching her boyfriend gather quickly all his stuff. Anakin didn't respond, too concentrated on putting on his trousers. He turned clumsily looking for his shirt, his mind far, far away.

His mom. His sweet, stoic mom, with all those premature wrinkles around her eyes and her warm smile. The woman that had worked her ass off to protect him, to give him a decent childhood and a proper home, to him, to her boy. She was missing. _Disappeared, _Cliegg had said. Probably _taken_ by the riders –the dangerous pirates that every man, woman and child feared in the desert. _Dead, _the unspoken word resounded in Anakin's head, digging a hole in his stomach that made it difficult to breath and stand.

Padmé touched slightly his shoulder, handing him his shirt. He simply took it, without even acknowledging the comforting gesture. Padmé bit her lower lips, wringing her hands in agitation and distress. After their magical night together, she could feel that he was miles away from her. Of course, his mom was in danger and he was sickly worried. But Padmé knew that there was something more –something else, something deep down Anakin that was cracking under some dark pressure. _Suffering makes people angry. _

"Ani?" she spoke softly again. He turned to face her, his eyes almost trying to bring into focus her figure.

"Maybe you should call Obi-Wan." She suggested gently.

"He would just tell me to stop and think" he replied with a dismissive gesture.

"Maybe he's right" she considered.

And there that was, a fast, light glimpse of disgust in his expression. Padmé lowered immediately her gaze, covering her still half-naked body. Anakin sighted.

"Sorry" he murmured, he himself not sure of what he was sorry for "I need to go" he repeated for the third time. He looked defeated after the initial confusion and for a moment she froze, incapable of acting. Then, she remembered what she was like, who she really was and started to get dressed.

"Very well. I'll come with you" she stated, a stubborn expression on her face.

"You are not." He replied firmly. He had absolutely no intention of dragging Padmé to Tatooine. It was no place for fine ladies.

"Tatooine is in the Outer Rim" she replied "You'll need documents"

"_Documents_?" he exclaimed with furious contempt "There's no time for you fucking doc-"

"My thoughts exactly" Padmé replied calmly "Travelling with the daughter of a diplomat is your only hope to exit the Republic space".

He stiffened, exhaling a furious breath "_No way._"

"You think you can order me around?" she asked irritated. She was a grown-up girl, an independent woman. She was letting no male telling her what to do. Not even _Anakin. _

"It's dangerous" he hissed, his resolution starting to break. She crossed her arms, a determined expression on her face; she was right and they both knew it.

He punched the wall in frustration, making Padmé startle in fear. He immediately regretted the gesture but he was angry. So fucking angry. At himself mostly, because he was letting Padmé get into such a dangerous situation. Angry because he was too weak and too fucking worried for his mom and so powerless that he really needed Padmé's help. He was no fool –he knew that somebody like him would not even get out of Coruscanti atmosphere. But there he was, putting his girlfriend in danger to get to his mom. And he was angry at the system, and his fucking life and this fucking situation –they were making him _choose_ between them.

"Ani" she spoke again, this time more gently "I can help you… Don't push me away, let me be at your side."

"Alright" he grunted.

"She'll be ok" said Padmé, trying to comfort him.

He didn't reply, just staring blankly at her for a brief moment. Padmé felt her heart sink a little more.

Obi-Wan Kenobi had a very bad feeling about the whole situation. A missed call from Anakin's stepfather was not a good sign.

"Kenobi" Cliegg Lars' harsh voice greeted him, with his heavily accented basic. Obi-Wan had nothing in common with the old farmer, but he had come to develop a great respect for the man and his simple life.

"Lars" he was a good man, Obi-Wan resonated. A very good man and had done Shmi Skywalker good.

On his side, Cliegg had learnt to trust Obi-Wan as Anakin's tutor, as the only person who could keep the boy in check.

"I have already spoken with the boy" Cliegg explained, and Obi-Wan cursed himself for turning his phone off during his morning lesson. Anakin was probably going to make something very stupid.

"It's Shmi" Lars continued, his voice a pained hush "She disappeared"

Obi-Wan sighted; now he _knew_ that Anakin was going to make something very stupid.

"How long?"

"A week" the defeat in Lars' voice was evident "We waited until… But now… She was probably taken by the riders.." the old man continued, his speech a little incoherent, even if Obi-Wan could not tell if that was because he was not fluent in Basic or because of the pain he was experiencing.

"I see" answered Obi-Wan, his mind racing "And… you told Anakin, right?" there was no way to put it gently.

"Yeah" Lars' voice was now harder. "He had the right to know, he's a man already" he explained. Kenobi and Shmi had the bad habit to consider the Skywalker boy as a little kid, forgiving him anything, when on Tatooine he would be considered a grown-up man, able to face his responsibilities and the consequences of his actions.

Obi-Wan sighted again "Thank you" he said "When did you call Anakin?"

"Half an hour ago" was the dry reply "The boy has the right to…" his voice broke. Obi-Wan felt a rush of pity for the man, knowing very well what it meant to be unable to protect the people you loved. Lars coughed a little "He has the right to say goodbye in case…"

"I understand" Obi-Wan answered, hoping hard that Anakin hadn't already left the planet illegally.

"I'm very sorry" he added after a while.

Lars didn't say anything, probably too pained to formulate an answer. Obi-Wan got to his feet, wishing he could sound more participative to Lars' pain. But _Anakin_ was his duty and Anakin was the loved person Obi-Wan had to protect. Even if it meant that the boy would never forgive him.

Kenobi had to act and to act quickly. He knew that calling Anakin was a useless effort. Both of them knew exactly what the professor was going to say; _keep calm, wait, don't do anything stupid.. _And both of them knew that Anakin was going to do exactly the opposite. He considered briefly to contact Ahsoka, but the girl was very loyal to her friend and very unlikely to tell Obi-Wan anything –especially if she felt that it would be making Anakin angry or disappointed.

But Obi-Wan had another chance to reach Anakin in time and that was exactly why he was rushing toward Satine's office. He passed some of his students, without even acknowledging them.

"Professor Kenobi!" he heard one of his best –and most annoying- student call.

"No time now!" Obi-Wan cut short, avoiding him with an evasive action. _Viciouslick _Anakin called him, making fun of his total adoration toward Obi-Wan and his total dedication to study. With an half smile, Obi-Wan wondered slightly exactly when Anakin had become the very center of his word. When exactly Anakin had become the one person Obi-Wan felt his duty to protect. When he had stopped being a young man with no responsibilities if not to himself and he had started having to take care of somebody else. Running across the campus to reach law and politics faculty, he admitted to himself that he knew very well when it had happened. When his dying mentor had made him promise that he would help the boy.

"Satine" he exclaimed when he finally reached her office. The esteemed professor rose her gaze to meet Obi-Wan's, her smile freezing when she noticed that the man was flushed, out of breath and clearly terrified.

"Obi-Wan?" she replied, rushing toward him.

"I need Miss Naberrie's number" he let out "She's with Anakin, I need to get to him". The explanation was less than satisfying, but Satine knew Obi-Wan well enough to know that he wouldn't ask her to break a student's privacy if it was not of utter importance.

"Very well" she said matter-of-factly, handing him Padmé's file.

"If anybody asks I got it from Anakin" he added quickly.

"You may be a fool, Obi-Wan" Satine replied, fixing on him a look that spoke of an old, barely buried emotion "But I know for a fact that you would not intentionally endanger me."

Obi-Wan nodded, not very sure of what had just passed between them, and left to call Padmé.

Satine sat again, sighting. She knew that Obi-Wan would do anything to protect the people he loved. But the lengths he would go to, to protect Anakin frightened her. He would risk anything and sometimes she wondered if Obi-Wan would be able to recognize the very moment in which he would have to stop. If not, Satine didn't know how many people would suffer.

"No, Ani, they would notice us" Padmé replied, shaking her head.

"I have the codes" he insisted "We may be back before they notice the ship is gone". It wasn't a good idea, he could admit as much. But it was the only plan he had; taking, well _borrowing_, a ship from the little shop where he worked and get to Tatooine as fast as he could. He already had in mind which ship to take –old, with a little calibration problem, but reliable and fast enough if the pilot was good. And Anakin was nothing if not a good pilot.

Padmé shook again her head, deep in thought. She could take her family ship, the one with the diplomatic flag that would grant them a question-free journey –but that meant they would have to wait another two days, to wait for her dad to come back. And it would be difficult to explain _why_ she needed the ship to her family.

She noticed absent-mindedly her phone buzzing and, almost without thinking, she answered.

"Padmé" the girl froze immediately, recognizing the voice.

"Professor Kenobi" she pronounced, trying to sound normal. The title immediately caught Anakin's attention. _Shit. _The last thing he needed now was Obi-Wan. He would lock Anakin in his office, if he knew what he had in mind. And much to his dismay, Anakin was sure that somehow Kenobi _knew. _

"Anakin is with you?"

"Yes" there was no point in lying. She would be just dragging more suspicious questions.

"Tell him that _I_ forbid him to go to Tatooine, understand?" Padmé bit her lower lip, gathering all the courage she needed to stand her ground against the professor. She knew she could do it.

"No." she replied, gaining a surprised look from Anakin. _That's my girl, _he though, smiling proudly; the first sincere smile he had produced since the morning.

Padmé knew that it would be an immense injustice to keep Anakin to Coruscant when his mother needed him. Stealing a ship was nothing compared to prevent a child go back to his mom. She could _feel_ he had to go. Even if it was a very bad decision.

"Listen, Padmé" the girl didn't know that someone as calm as Obi-Wan could really rise his voice "You clearly don't understand the situation. He _cannot_ go, is that clear? He is barely allowed to stay here, if he cross the border he could very well never get back to the planet…" the professor hissed.

"I… I understand" replied Padmé again, trying to push back the tears.

"Then, for fuck's sake, if you really care about him just _keep_ him on this fucking planet!"

Obi-Wan knew that he was hurting the girl and that she didn't deserve any of this. It was simply horrible for him to leverage on Padmé's love and sense of guilt, to protect Anakin. But he had already done too many bad things to protect the boy and he would not stop _now._

Anakin knew very well that if he left he would not be going back. But it didn't matter. He was twenty, he could make his own decisions without Obi-Wan ordering him around and telling him what to do.

He took the phone from his girlfriend's hand, another crazy, exciting idea forming in his mind.

"I'm sorry" he told his tutor, closing the conversation on Obi-Wan's protests, and shutting the phone off.

He turned resolutely to face Padmé who had gone very silent.

"I've got an idea" he told her "If I am right nobody will notice that we left and we'll be back _before _they can kick me out of the planet". Padmé nodded slowly.

"We take Obi-Wan's ship" he said with a wicked smile.

"Excuse me?" Padmé was a little startled. They had spent the morning trying to avoid Obi-Wan, hoping he didn't know anything about his mom and now they were going to take _his_ ship? They would just go there, say hello and _please can we borrow your transport to get to Tatooine_ -which incidentally you explicitly ordered us not to?

"Listen" Anakin started, his eyes dangerously lightened-up "Obi-Wan has a good ship, a very good one.." Padmé let out a small sigh of surprise. "He's very rich, but he's ashamed of it.." explained Anakin quickly "And he is the one person who is not going to denounce me to the authorities" he concluded with a wide smile. Padmé nodded again, this time convinced of the brilliance of the plan. Sure, they would still have to avoid border controls. But they would have a big advantage.

"I know some short-ways" Anakin murmured, as if he had read her thoughts "You know, ways to go and come back _unnoticed_". He was a little ashamed of himself; Padmé was so righteous, so gentle, so _perfect _and he was no better than a common criminal. And, worst of everything, he was dragging her in his dangerous word, risking her reputation. Which she was willing to risk, Anakin realized with surprise. He hadn't thought about that; sure he was well aware that he, Anakin, was putting Padmé in danger and he was loathing himself for it. But he hadn't really realized up to that moment the lengths his brave girl would go to, to help him and be with him. She was so much more than he deserved.

"Padmé" he said stopping and taking her hand "I…"

"Yes?" she blinked, eyes wide with anticipation, her heart skipping a beat. He looked so much like he had looked the evening before –handsome, with clear eyes and a caring, loving expression on his face. He was _not_ going to say what she thought he would, was he?

"Well, I think I lo.." but he didn't finish the sentence. Sure, he was just an emotional wreck and it was not as if he was really going to say _those_ three words. He had never pronounced them aloud, not in that sense, not to a woman who was not his mom or Ahsoka –but that was different, they were family and family _is_ love. "I mean, you.. you don't have to come only to help me" he concluded.

Padmé let out a disappointed _oh_, but it was only a moment.

"I _want_ to come" she announced, her authoritative voice similar to the one she used as a child, when she acted like the little queen of the family. Anakin nodded, falling silent again, a tiny voice in the back his head calling him a coward and repeating _yes, you fool, you love her. _But that was not true, Anakin decided. He didn't love her, right? Not like that. Sure, he liked her, he cared for her and wanted to protect her. He had a crush on her, the worst crush of his entire life, and he had never been with a girl like her. But that was an infatuation –a very big and very deep one, yes, but still an infatuation.

"Ani" she said with a gentle voice, that made her seem much more mature than her years "We'll save your mom". Anakin smiled almost despite himself, feeling strangely reassured, a warm sensation setting in his stomach. _Ugh. _The voice in the back of his head purred with satisfaction; _you don't love her, yeah, sure thing. _

Six hours later, Ahsoka kicked a can, letting out a frustrated sigh. She was bored, so bored that she was going to cry. Jess was with her boyfriend, again and she seemed to have completely forgotten Ahsoka and their friendship. Anakin, well Anakin had completely lost his head, she considered with a little contempt; but Anakin was a _boy_ and he was _twenty_ and that explained pretty much everything. He was also handsome and maybe, but just maybe Ahsoka had a little bit of a crush on him. But she liked Padmé, even if she was crazy and bookish and she blushed a lot.

"Ahsoka, hi" a gentle voice called behind her.

"Barriss" the girl replied surprised. Barriss Offee closed the book she was reading and smiled to Ahsoka. She was some years Ahsoka's senior, but they were enrolled in the same school. She was a calm, studious girl, who was nice to everybody. Ahsoka thought she was a little bit of a geek, but she liked the girl all the same.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Nothing, really" Ahsoka replied, sitting beside her.

"It's a good place not to do anything" Barriss approved with a smile "I come here when I need some peace to think…"

"Oh, I can go if it bothers you" Ahsoka said quickly, fighting a strange sense of disappointment. A lot of people didn't have time for Ahsoka lately.

"No, please stay" Barriss smile grew wider "I'm not really enjoying this book" she added, pointing at the novel in her hand. Ahsoka glanced at the title, as she usually enjoyed reading, but it sounded something like that would bore her to death.

"It's about war" Barriss explained "It says that sometimes it's necessary, but I don't particularly agree"

Ahsoka nodded, with a thoughtful expression "You are a pacifist?"

"More like a peace-keeper" Barriss smiled "I don't exclude violence as such, but I think that wars even those started for the best reasons, transform even the best of us in animals".

Ahsoka sighted, thinking of Anakin and of his contempt for the Republic weakness and failure to act to help those suffering in the Outer Rim. She didn't know much about politics and like every fourteen-year old she didn't care much. But like every child born in a difficult situation she felt the striking sense of injustice push her to fight against something and to act, to change the world.

"I'm a bit of a nerd, I know" admitted Barriss after some, long moment.

Ahsoka laughed. She definitely spending too much time with nerds lately.

Anakin let out a big breath of relief. They were actually out of Coruscant space and almost ready to jump to the hyperspace. Nobody had stopped them and also stealing Obi-Wan's ship was easier than expected. It was almost as if the universe itself wanted him to leave the planet –and never come back, probably. Anakin pushed the thought away; he had to save his mom, that was the only thing that mattered.

"We're out" said Padmé, interrupting his flow of thought. He attempted a smile in her direction, but didn't succeed. He still felt guilty because he had let her come with him. But she was right, her surname could be really useful if things got bad. At least to face all the problems they might encounter during the journey or any control –Anakin was all too aware that there was little hope for him to go back.

The truth was that he had wanted her to come and to stay with him. If he was to leave the Republic forever, he wanted to spend as much time as possible with Padmé.

"Anakin?" She was so beautiful.

"Sorry" he murmured "I'm just a bit…" he didn't finish the sentence.

"I know" Padmé said with a soft voice, taking suddenly his hand. It was one of the most reassuring contacts he had ever received, Anakin considered. It was so beautiful and so comforting to simply stand there, holding her hand and wait the five hours that separated them from the Outer Rim.

"Tell me about your mom" she said gently. She had asked before and he had never answered –sometimes even getting irritated. This time was different thought, because she could tell it was Anakin that felt the need to talk this time.

"She is always calm" he started "Not very much like me" he chuckled "Maybe one day I'll meet a man as crazy as myself and I'll know he's my dad"

"Oh" Padmé replied, as always when she didn't know what to say "He left?"

Anakin didn't answer at first "I think he did, yes… Well, that was before I was born, and he wasn't there so…"

Padmé nodded, strengthening the grip on his hand.

"… When I was a child I used to imagine that he was some pilot from some distant world, you know?" he smiled briefly, a little ashamed of that childish fantasy "That he was presumed dead, but that he wasn't that one day he would be coming back to get my mom and me…" he shrugged.

"But _she_ was always there.. she never let me out of her sight and she always did everything for me.."

Padmé nodded again. This, she could understand. The immense, warm love of a mother caring for her children; she had experienced it herself. But she had had the privilege to grow up with her, to gradually walk alone, always with her mom's loving presence. Anakin's mom was taken from him by circumstances, when he still needed her.

"She left me on Coruscant because her greatest desire was to give me more opportunities than she ever had…" Anakin continued "… Some years ago, she married…"

"You don't like her husband?"

"Never met the guy" he answered quickly "But I don't like the fact that she married… She changed her surname, you know?" as if that was the most painful thing.

Padmé almost asked what her surname was, but then realized that indeed it was _Skywalker_. Changing surname meant that she was not a Skywalker anymore, that she was not part of Anakin's family anymore.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing" he replied "She called me and told me that she loved me best… And Obi-Wan talked to me _so _much that I gave up any sabotage plan, only to make him shut-up"

Padmé laughed, sure that it was _one version _of the truth. The truth was that it had helped more than Anakin would ever be willing to admit.

She understood him better than they both realized.

**Hi again! I'm sorry, I know it took me a lot to update! **

**Sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistake, as usual I try hard XD As you probably noticed I completely cut the part where Anakin and Padmé "steal" Obi-Wan; I tried, but it was really difficult to write. If I succeed in writing it in a decent English, I will post it as a separate part or missing scene.**

**Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the people who reviewed, favourited or followed :) **

**You make authors happy! :) **


	10. Chapter 10

_In which three losers lose again and something very crazy happens in the end…_

**Of Death and Life **

Tatooine was much worse than Padmé could have ever anticipated. It was hot, dry and the very act of breathing was painful. It was also dirt, scattered and its inhabitants didn't take their eyes off the ground –their pace fast, their hands always hidden in the rags they wore. Padmé hadn't felt safe from the very moment they had landed –in the very middle of the desert.

"An expensive ship like this could attract a lot of attention" Anakin had explained, his voice as dry as the air. Padmé had simply nodded, following him in an exhausting two hours walk through the desert.

They hadn't exchanged a single word since they had entered the city –Mos Espa. And if Padmé had been afraid before, she was now terrified. She could physically feel how she didn't really fit in the city, how strange she looked, how much she could drag attention. It wasn't only about her clothes, her clean face, her beautiful hands which had so evidently always avoided manual labor. It wasn't even the fact that she was wearing perfume –something that only _prostitutes _wore on Tatooine, as Anakin had murmured with a dark expression.

It was her same behavior –the way her eyes gazed at everything with curiosity and compassion. The way she always stood straight with her head up –as someone who had always been cared for, treated with love and respect, treated as a human being. Not like everybody else on the planet, not even like Anakin.

She threw him a worried look; since they had left the ship, he had closed himself up in his own world. He was deep in thought, his usually sparkling eyes dark with worry and almost faded. Padmé had the distinct impression that it wasn't just the desperate and furious fear he felt for his mom; no, it was the planet itself that was affecting him. He looked worried, tired and almost _subdued_. He looked down –to avoid any eye contact with anyone else. He held himself tightly –to protect himself from the sharping wind and from something else, Padmé considered, from the same violence of the environment. And yet, Padmé could feel as much, that was the very thing that could make him dangerous. He looked dangerous and cruel and desperate and it was utterly terrifying that there was not a thing she could do to reach him, to take him away from the dark place he had hidden himself into.

Their same thoughts were synchronized, but two worlds apart. They couldn't really speak nor touch one another –he unsure of why she was there with him, she unsure on how to take care of him and how to reassure him that there were a lot of good reasons for her to be there with him. She looked around, considering how much fear the inhabitants of that forgotten planet were feeling. He could not take his eyes off the ground, barely able to breath, trying to hold all the rising anger he felt burning inside of himself. She could only feel compassion, while he was devoured by rage.

Her eyes were full of pity, pity for that distant child and his expression full of fear. Fear of a drunk and cruel father, maybe –fear of a man desperate enough to hurt his own children. He was trying _not_ to look around, not to let his birth planet affect him –not to let all these memories fight to the surface of his own conscience. Fear, hate, rage and anger. Anger toward Watto and his absolute conviction that it was just out of pure good heart that he let Shmi work for him those twelve hours a day. Fear of his heavy hand –the same, stunning fear that could still petrify Anakin. Fear of him beating her, his mother, conscious that her small child was watching. It didn't matter to Anakin that he now was a tall, broad-shouldered man, he felt the same fear he had felt as a child, the same hate, the same anger –even if back than he didn't have the words to describe those emotions, nor in basic, nor in Huttese.

Padmé felt her heart almost breaking, witnessing the true misery that surrounded her –she was used to read about it in books, to watch it displayed on the Holonet, but she had never been able to really _taste_ it. Still, she couldn't comprehend it. She could not really understand why they didn't leave. Anakin remembered the journey –at first it had looked like a great adventure, than it had become a nightmare. But it didn't really matter now, because the thing he remembered better were his mom's sad and worried eyes, his mom's body itself, trying to protect him, trying to reassure him that it was all worth it, that they were going to embrace a better life. Padmé, on the other hand, could understand fear, but she couldn't grasp submission and resignation –maybe _they_ were too afraid to face the unknown, _they_ just preferred the well-known violence of Tatooine to a new way of abuse and misery. Anakin remembered quite clearly the frustration and the anger, that blinding anger he felt as a child. He remembered that he had to thank the same people who treated them like _shit_, because they let them pay the rent double its price, because they were not denouncing them to the authorities. He remembered how it was to _feel_ like shit –because they were just that, shit, an old clandestine woman and her bastard son. He remembered the gentleness in Qui-Gon's eyes and his peculiar way of seeing things –he remembered how it had felt to be proud of himself for the first time in his life. He remembered his mom leaving, taken away from him. He remembered Professor Jinn's death and how much he had felt a stranger at his funeral. He remembered Obi-Wan's grief and pain and his resolute –but sad- eyes, promising him that now, he, Obi-Wan would have taken care of Anakin. He remembered his mom's marriage and what it felt to be the last Skywalker in the universe again. He remembered how it was easy to lose himself in drugs, forgetting everything, even his own talent. He remembered Ahsoka and his admission to the university with, nonetheless, a full scholarship.

He knew what it felt to be like a looser, and to be a winner and now he was going to discover what it really meant to give everything up for someone he loved. Probably everything. He took Padmé's hand –the first physical contact in many hours. _Almost_ everything.

((((()))))

To say that Ahsoka was irritated was an understandment. Not only had Jess completely forgotten about the movie they were supposed to go and watch that evening. Not only that blonde _slut_ had decided to ignore everything that Ahsoka held important and stood for –loyalty and friendship. No, that was not enough. Now, _Anakin_ was doing the same. She had wanted to speak with him, to explain why Jess was such a slut, how much she liked Barriss now; she had wanted to have him by her side, protecting her, giving her crazy advices she would never follow –she just had wanted for him to care. But no. He was not answering any of her calls. He was nowhere to be found –not at the shop, not at the Institute, not anywhere Anakin could be on a Saturday afternoon. He was with his precious, pretty Padmé and her looser attitudes, she could bet.

Ahsoka could understand that he was so much in love with his new dream-girl and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She could understand that he had to spend a lot of time making pretty things for her, to finally sleep with her, but she couldn't accept to be ignored for _that_. He had had other girls and none had made him forget Ahsoka. She felt betrayed. She had thought their relationship was special, more important than some, stupid, affair, with some posh girl. It had always been the two of them fighting against the world. She was his protégé, his baby-sit duty and he was her Skyguy, her guardian, her true teacher of the real life. And now she just felt alone and abandoned. It was all the same, old, story; Ahsoka had somebody who loved her, but just not enough. She had had a mother, but she hadn't been able to fight, she hadn't been able to love her enough to keep her. She had had a best friend, but she couldn't compete with a boyfriend. And she had had _Anakin _but apparently she was not posh, or pretty, or clever enough for him –he just had preferred Padmé to her. She felt like shit –she felt lonely and sorry for herself.

She would have realized much time later, that maybe it was the destiny's call or something like that. But she was keeping to wander around, going nowhere, and her feet almost guided her to the same park, where she had found Barriss the previous day. Not that she had planned it at all, but when she spotted the serious looking girl, sitting on a bench, a calm expression on her face, Ahsoka couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Ahsoka" said Barriss greeting her with good humor "I didn't know you enjoyed so much my company"

"I had other plans, but Jess is a stupid _slut_ and…" Ahsoka fell silent, a little embarrassed "Not that I do not enjoy… umh… your company" she added quickly.

Barriss laughed –her calm eyes mirroring Ahsoka's distressed expression: "Don't worry, Ahsoka" she smiled "And I'm sure you have your good reasons to be angry with this Jess"

"And with Anakin" Ahsoka added, her tone a little petulant.

Barriss looked a little taken aback by this admission. Everybody, in their school, knew that Ahsoka was the famous Skywalker's protégé. She herself had been only two years behind him in school, and she remembered his cool attitude, his arrogance, his unstoppable way of making everything he did look so _easy_.

"Skywalker? Isn't he your tutor?"

Ahsoka made a scornful expression: "He _should_ be, but he is nowhere to be found, too"

Barriss threw her a look of poor sympathy and sighted "Maybe he has good reasons, too"

"He just has a _girlfriend" _wined Ahsoka, perfectly conscious that she was making a fool of herself in front of Barriss.

Her brand-new friend let out a small laugh, but said, more seriously "Don't worry, Ahsoka, boys always act strange when they are in love"

Ahsoka shrugged, the same thought of _him_ really being in love a little too much hurtful to accept.

"I thought we'd be always be together" she admitted, looking away.

"And I'm sure you will" Barriss said with a warm smile "Even if there's somebody else in his life, it doesn't mean he will leave you behind"

"Jess did" Ahsoka replied stubbornly. _My mom _did, she almost added, but refrained.

"Have you tried to talk to him? Or to this Jess?"

"I… Well, no, they would just say that I'm _jealous_".

Barriss smiled once again "Or loyal".

Ahsoka grinned to her, her heart a little lighter. Maybe she could just be a looser together with Barriss.

(((((())))))

Obi-Wan Kenobi had been a looser almost all his life. At the age of thirty-six, he had spent all his life trying to be a better man –a better student, a better professor, a better guardian. And yet, he had felt that every role he had impersonated in his life, had been given to him by chance –as if he didn't really deserved it. He had always felt like a looser, but now, looking at his empty hangar, his ship gone with all his hopes, he felt he had failed the most important role of his life. He hadn't been able to protect him. He hadn't been able to calm him down, to keep him on the planet, to save him from himself and his stupid desire to change the galaxy single-handedly –or let it burn. He fell down on his couch, his hands covering his head, all the weight of failure hurting him.

He thought that his day could not in any way get worse –that is, until he received a call from Mr. Naberrie.

((((()))))

Padmé had never felt so bad in her entire life. Worse, she had never realized she could ever feel this bad. Compared to her current situation she thought that the things she was so used to call "problems" were the petty difficulties a spoiled girl faced. She thought _exams_ or finding an intership were _actual_ problems. But now she realized that real life was much worse than she could have ever imagined.

"You must be Anakin" Cliegg had stated, nodding gravely, a little taken aback from finding out what his wife's son looked like. Shmi had showed him a lot of pictures of a baby of three and of a child of seven and eight year old -but the person standing in front of him was already a man, tall and muscled.

"Mr. Lars, right?" had asked Anakin, pretending his mom's new last name was not something he had memorized the first time he had heard it. _Lars. _A Lars, not a Skywalker anymore.

The old farmer had just nodded again, his eyes almost faded with grief, fatigue and sand. He hadn't expected for the boy to come so soon. He hadn't thought that he would just give up on everything to see a mother he didn't seem to love so much. Padmé introduced herself to Cliegg and to the other members of the family, greeted with a grouch, dry politeness, typical of those good, sincere people that weren't spoiled or corrupted by a Machiavellian necessity of good manners and etiquette.

"We found her" Cliegg had said, addressing Anakin "We are… we are glad you came here.. on time"

Anakin had not answered, looking down to the man. He had understood everything the moment he and Padmé had entered the room. There was no hope, not anymore. They had found her, yes. The only thing he was eager –and yet didn't want- to know was if she had already died.

"Shmi is…" but Cliegg's voice broke. He didn't want to burst into tears in front of his son and his daughter-in-law or this child of Shmi's.

"Your mother in her bedroom" Owen continued gently. He hadn't spoken a word since they had come in and Padmé jolted in surprise at the gentleness in his voice. They were good people.

Anakin nodded and followed Owen in the dark room where his mother was dying. He was strangely calm, almost dizzy, almost incapable of feeling his own emotions, as strong as they were. His mother was dying, he could understand that rationally. But he couldn't really grasp it emotionally, he couldn't understand what it meant at a deeper level. He was not sure what it meant. Probably, only that he was going to be an orphan.

((((()))))

"_Tatooine?" _ Ruwee Naberrie exclaimed. He was a diplomat, a negotiator, used to deal calmly with other people and to treat them with respect. But this, this was _unbelievable_. His little daughter, taken by some questionable boy of some questionable origin to the Outer Rim? To _Tatooine, _nonetheless?

"Yes" confirmed Obi-Wan "I wasn't able to stop them, I-"

"So you let this… this boy take my daughter to Tatooine?"

"It's _not_ Anakin's fault" Obi-Wan articulated, sure that his attempt to defend Anakin would just fell on deaf ears. "His mother disappeared, he just rushed to his home planet and Padmé probably-"

"My daughter would have never done something so foolish!" Mr. Naberrie insisted "She is not… It is dangerous!"

"I know!" exclaimed Obi-Wan "Look" he added after a few seconds "Don't assume that I am less worried about Anakin than you are about Padmé" his tone was much harsher than he had intended but it had an effect on Mr. Naberrie. The man fell silent, listening, probably for the first time since the call had started, to Obi-Wan.

"I know it's a bad situation… We need to find a solution, to bring them back here…"

"Professor Kenobi" started Ruwee "With all due respect, the only thing we can do is to call the authorities and to…"

"You can't do that!" Obi-Wan argued. Why had Padmé left without leaving a note for her parents? She and Anakin had been gone for more than a good twenty-four hours now. And, yes, of course they had grown worried, of course they had called her friends, of course their friends had told them about Anakin. And of course, they had found out that Anakin had a tutor and that tutor was Obi-Wan.

"The hell, I can do whatever is in my power to protect my daughter!"

"I don't think your daughter would be so much pleased if you got her boyfriend arrested!"

Silence fell again. Obi-Wan understood Ruwee. He would have done the same. But he would not let him worsen Anakin's situation. It was already bad enough.

After some, long moments Obi-Wan heard a feminine voice speaking: "Professor Kenobi? This is Jobal Naberrie speaking…"

Obi-Wan heard her husband protesting in the background, but it didn't seem to affect Mrs. Naberrie's resolution.

"I understand you want to protect Anakin" she said "He is a good boy, I have met him on some occasions… And I think that he really cares for our daughter…"

Obi-Wan heard Ruwee again, saying something like: "_Care_? Do you think he really cares if he's ready to take her to Tatooine?" but Jobal seemed to ignore him again, focusing her attention on Obi-Wan.

"I think we can find a solution to take them both safely home"

"I'm listening" replied Obi-Wan slowly, his mind already guessing what she might have in mind.

"We are good friend with Senator Palpatine" Jobal stated "Everything on this planet is about politics, I don't think it would be difficult for him to… well, to make it look as if Padmé and Anakin had never left Coruscant".

((((()))))

"_Mom_" he cried, tears falling freely on his cheeks. It couldn't be possible. It wasn't happening. Not to his mom, not to him, not even _this_.

"I love you, Ani" said Shmi, forcing a smile "I… I'm so proud of you…"

(((((())))))

They were well aware of how little the academic world trusted Senator Palpatine. And they knew as well that professor Kenobi was a witty and adamant opponent to his upcoming candidature to Supreme Chancellor –his articles hadn't fallen unnoticed to the Naberries's eyes. But there were things that transcended political opposition. Things like love and two lost kids they had the duty to protect. Obi-Wan sighted, gathering the energies necessary to answer to Jobal; he sighted again, defeated. No matter how much he wanted to deny it to himself; he was ready to sell his own soul to protect Anakin.

"I'll come with you, Mrs. Naberrie" he announced dryly "Let's see if Senator Palpatine can help us"

Mr. Naberrie nodded gravely, and threw her husband a relieved look. Professor Kenobi clearly loved Anakin as much as they loved their daughter.

(((((())))))

When he finally emerged from the room, nobody could really speak to him. Cliegg had left to say goodbye to his life, the exact moment he had entered the small living room again. Owen and Beru were looking down respectfully; they seemed both unable to express their own grief and sadness, not when Anakin and Cliegg had so much more rights to feel sad than they felt they had.

Anakin was standing in the middle of the room, still incapable of saying anything or to make anything. Padmé approached him, taking his hand on her own. He looked into her eyes, still unable to communicate. He has cried, the girl realized.

"Where did you find her?" Anakin asked almost suddenly, making Padmé, Beru and Owen jolt at the unexpected hardness in his voice. Both Beru and Owen were used to consider death to the Raiders' hand a natural way of life, something that was not anymore inevitable than a stroke or any other form of death. Padmé on the other hand had never heard him speak with such violence. She almost feared him.

"They left him on the hill where she had disappeared.." Owen explained, not dearing to meet Anakin's eyes "We were searching for her, but when we finally found her it was… I… I'm very sorry" he concluded, murmuring the last few words. Anakin took a deep breath, his eyes burning, his fists clenching. He looked like a human again; a full human, devoured by emotions. He punched the wall and left the house, a growing sordid anger in his gut.

Padmé froze for a long moment. Then, she realized what she had to do and followed Anakin.

It took her hours to calm him down, to convince him to let him go of everything he had felt in the past days, months and years. It was unnerving to see him in such a state –desperate and angry and cruel. It took her a lot of time to convince him that it was useless to go and look for the Raiders, that he would only risk his life for nothing, that vengeance was not going to get his mom back from the dead. Finally, he burst into tears, crying hard for the first time in fifteen years and she stopped talking. She just stayed there with him, outside in the cold night of the desert, holding him and stroking him and repeating, like a mantra, _I'm so sorry, Ani. _

((((()))))

"Fucking planet" Anakin spat the morning after, tasting the granulose and sharp sand in his mouth. Padmé said nothing, but took his hand. It had been a long night, and neither of them had slept a lot. And it had been a long morning, with Shmi's funeral and everything. And now they had to go back, it felt almost unreal what they had just faced together.

"I'm sorry" he said, echoing the same phrase she had murmured to his ear all night "I… I should have never took you here…" there was an unspoken need _not_ to talk about what they had shared; everything too painful, too crazy, too much for them to accept. But it was difficult as well to do the non-talking thing.

"I…" Padmé started, but fell silent. _I love you. _"It's horrible" She stated "I mean.. you had to live here, and I… I had no idea.."

"I was lucky" he said quickly, his eyes blue again, his expression a little bit more alive. He had looked so defeated the night before, so unlike himself "I left… I could leave… If my mother.. if she had had less courage, if she had done like the other mothers, resigned to this life, I would have never come to Coruscant… I would have never met Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and…" his throat was suddenly very dry. It was like making a list of everything he had renounced to.

"Anakin.."

He would have never met Padmé. He would have never done anything he loved, he would have never met all the people he had learnt to love. _He would have never met Padmé_. He had given everything up for his mother, the woman that had made all of that possible.

It seemed fair enough. But it didn't seem fair at all.

"Anakin, you deserved everything you had, you weren't lucky.."

He almost laughed. "Padmé, I am a student at a prestigious university" he said matter-of-factly "Here, you are considered a lucky bastard if you get to go to _elementary school_."

"I am sorry" was the only thing she managed to say.

"I am well aware of the privilege I had" he stated, again "but it's not your fault" he added, his tone more determined and more similar to his usual one "You are the one who deserves everything"

"Ani, I…"

"It's true… You are clever and you always study and you will have the beautiful life you worked for.. and yet you are here, with me, you are loyal and brave _enough_ to be here.." he concluded.

She fell silent again, startled at the compliment she had just received; Anakin had always been affectionate with her, always telling her how beautiful she was, how dedicated and kind and sweet. But she had never realized how much he actually _respected_ her. She suspected that he respected her more than _most_ people in her life did. They boarded the ship, silent again.

He knew that he would be kicked off Coruscant and that it would make more sense just to stay on Tatooine. But at the same time he didn't want to say goodbye, not now, not yet.

Padmé, like the very clever and very studious girl she was, had just had an idea. But it was so fucking crazy that she could not even admit it to herself.

(((((())))))

Anakin raised to his feet, incapable of staying still a minute more. They had just jumped to hyperspace, with six long hours before getting to Coruscant.

"I'll be expelled" he reasoned; for some obscure reasons he felt the need to say this aloud. He was feeling dull and empty, too tired to feel angry or sorry for himself. He just felt the need to tell her, to finally make her understand that they had a very little time to spend together left.

As much as he hadn't asked for a different life, now that the different life had happened and he was about to lose it, he felt lost. He would lose everything, just like that, all that had been his life in the past ten years. Sure, he could ask Cliegg and Owen if he could work with them, help in the moisture farm. Maybe he could open a mechanic shop on Tatooine, once he had the money.

And yet, his stomach was empty with fear and loss.

He would never be a mathematics graduate. He hadn't realized up to that moment that he wanted so badly to get the degree. He would never take Ahsoka to live with him. He would never again spend afternoons complaining with Obi-Wan for his lack of taste on ships.

(Not that he regretted this. He had wanted to say a proper goodbye to his mom. He would have never got the chance if he had waited the authorities' approval.)

"I run away, stole a ship from a professor and your dad probably thinks I kidnapped you." He stated again.

He was going to get expelled, he really was. He was going to lose his job as a mechanic –who would hire a thief? Even if Obi-Wan didn't denounce him, news travelled fast and he had no doubts that his employer would not allow him to stay long. No, Anakin was going to lose his scholarship, his place in the university, his job and the planet he had learnt to call home.

And he was going to be _kicked off_ of the planet.

He looked down at the beautiful and brave girl at his side. She wasn't speaking at all. He would lose her too, forever –even if she _wanted_ to renounce everything and follow him on Tatooine, he would impede that. He would not ruin her life, as he had ruined his own. He took her hand and lift it to kiss softly the white knuckles.

They exchanged a long, meaningful look. She could feel her eyes starting to water at the perspective.

"I love you" he said. Not that it mattered, now. Padmé blinked, as if she had just realized something and remained silent. "I'm sorry" he added, slowly.

And then, just like that, as if she was simply asking Anakin to hand her the salt, Padmé said two words she would have questioned many times in the future, without ever regretting them.

"Marry me"

Anakin stared at her. He hadn't heard it right. He was going deaf (or crazy again).

Padmé stared back, her expression a resolute frown.

"Well?" she asked "I love you too, you know? And if you marry me you won't have to leave Coruscant"

**Good evening/morning, everybody! Yes, I'm still here writing :) As usual, thanks to everybody who commented, reviewed, liked, favorited, followed or simply read and enjoyed this story :) I'm having a lot of fun writing it and I hope you have fun reading it as well. Anyway, my dear readers, we are almost there! Yes, it is sadly almost finished: there will be an epilogue and that will be it!**

**Or maybe not? XD I admit I've been planning to keep on with this story, so if you enjoyed it and want to know how it continues stay tuned because there will be a sequel :) it will be probably called "Same, old, in-between stories" but you never know, maybe I'll come up with a better title in the meantime XD**

**See yah, folks! :D **

**THANK YOU A LOT **

**p.s. As usual, reviews are moooost welcome :D **


	11. Chapter 11

**Epilogue or The Devils**

_In which they live happily ever after (until the devils come out)…_

Senator Palpatine did not believe in luck. He could not, having spent his entire life trying to elevate his status, to demonstrate that even someone like him, an angry boy from the filthiest block of the city, could become someone -if he had the right guidance _and_ the guts to do what it took.

Palpatine took a sip of his drink, throwing a pleased glance to the three-hundred page project lying on his desk. The _Death Star_: his absolute masterpiece, the coronation of an entire career. Of course, public opinion could not know, not yet. Not that he feared the masses; no, the masses were always extreme in their feelings and were almost too easy to manipulate. He was one of them, after all; he was not part of the corrupts, of the riches, of all those people that had made them feel like shit all their lives –with their good manners, their sophisticated accents, their beauty, their perfection. No, he was one of them and he had done it; he had entered that closed circle that was power. He had showed them that they could, too. He understood their feelings. Masses craved even the mere illusion of power. The masses, the good, naïve folk who would vote for him in a month or so, would love his little project about a new arm. People didn't care about rights, or about laws or budget regulation; they lived their insignificant lives, justifying their petty crimes, a little ashamed, a little proud of their ability to "fuck the system". And at the same time, they loved when someone like him could show them that their country, their dear home-planet, was powerful. They would love him for that. And they would love his request to strengthen his leadership and to enlarge the chancellorship's power; finally -they would comment- finally someone with the guts to act, instead of just talking like all the other privileged politicians. But that would have to wait. The _Death Star_, too, would have to wait. Time was not mature enough; his opponents were still too strong, even if they were starting to crack under his growing power in the Senate and among the people. He had to wait, and experience had thought him nothing but the unexpected virtue of patience.

Things were starting to move, thought. He had gotten the unexpected but welcomed support of Diplomat Naberrie; the man had a lot of acquaintances in the finance and in the industry and, most important of all, the Diplomat was a respected man. Naberrie's support had opened him a lot of doors in the upper-class circles, and had given him the possibility to find the money to fund his electoral campaign. He had made the good Diplomat's daughter his own protegée –just in case daddy decided that he did not like Palpatine's ideas anymore, it was always good to have a hostage. Then, he had finally succeeded in gaining another ally among the very people that hated him the most; intellectuals. Professor Dooku had agreed to silently run a preliminary review of this little project of his. He had courted the old Professor for months, attentively dosing flattery and power game. And then, one day, Dooku had chosen his side. He was tired, he had said. Tired of the growing corruption within the Republic, tired of its slow and intricate bureaucracy. He agreed with Palpatine and he believed he would do good to the Planet. And, Palpatine considered, he also wanted his good share of recognition, money and power. People are never too greedy.

Dooku had been the first one to suggest Skywalker. At first, the boy was just a good excuse to irritate Kenobi. An unbalanced boy, Dooku has said; raw, unfocused, aggressive. Talented, yes, but with no elegance. He could be useful to distract Kenobi however; Palpatine knew that the young Professor was doing his little private investigation on him. He could almost feel the distrust Kenobi felt towards him; a distrust that was made explicit in his articles. Not that those articles could cost him the elections, of course not. But Kenobi was a good-looking man, idealistic and respected among professors and researchers; he was the academics' golden boy. Kenobi could do him damage, and approaching his puppy had just been too tempting. But then he had met Skywalker and had understood how much useful the boy could prove; he was unfocused, yes. But he was one of the masses, like Palpatine himself; he would not recognize any loyalty to some stupid law. His own aggressiveness, that Dooku despised so much, could become the perfect tool for Palpatine's plan. The boy would have gladly helped him "to fix the galaxy", especially if that meant to destroy all the people that angered him so much. The privileged ones. And the boy _could _focus when it was about mechanics. Palpatine had set his eyes on Anakin Skywalker and, sooner or later, he would have been able to have him. And, at the same time, he could distract _Kenobi_. Kenobi and his little research, his obsession for him. _When will you finally put all the pieces together, Obi-Wan? When will you discover my little, dirty, secret? _Palpatine gritted his teeth, considering how stupid he had been; he had left too many traces and someone had been able to follow them. Back then he was not so powerful and the big public didn't know him. He had been too impatient, too eager to start with his plan that he had become careless. And he had been caught by an annoying professor who seemed sure he could correct all the world's evils. He had had to act; he had had to have him killed, even if it was a risky move. He didn't know back then that he was some kind of spiritual master and guidance for the young Kenobi. He didn't know that killing Qui-Gon Jinn would have made Obi-Wan Kenobi his worst enemy.

But then, destiny had played a hand in his favor. Skywalker and lady Naberrie had decided to leave the planet for a little trip in the valley of bad memories and could turn out to be a real tragedy. But the two kids had been smarter than anticipated and –surprise, surprise- Obi-Wan Kenobi had come to him, begging him to take the puppy home. Obi-Wan Kenobi, the honest, perfect, Obi-Wan Kenobi had lied and used a political connection to pursue his own interests. What would the press think? _What would his dear colleagues think if they knew?_ A word from Palpatine and he was ruined. Kenobi's word would have simply lost its power. Kenobi had already lost all his power over him; to protect Skywalker.

Palpatine smiled to himself, finishing his drink. Poor Kenobi, he would be devastated when the moment would finally present itself. _Skywalker will fall _he considered, licking unconsciously his lips, and _Kenobi will be broken. _

Anakin opened lazily his eyes, not really wanting to get up. He smiled, seeing a mass of dark brown hair on his chest. Padmé was still sound asleep. Anakin stretched to reach his phone, trying not to wake his girlfriend up. A quarter to eight, he considered, grateful to discover that he could just close his eyes again and doze off a little more.

"Ani?" a sleepy voice called. He didn't answer, but placed instead some light kisses on the girl's head.

"Mmm" she moaned appreciatively. He smiled and moved a little to gain access to her neck and collarbone, leaving a trace of kisses on her. She laughed and moaned again.

"You know, I should have really married you…" she commented happily, her body shivering under his attentions.

"If I recall correctly" said Anakin, each kiss more passionate and eager "You were the one who proposed, so I should be the one who gets to say yes…"

She opened her mouth to answer, but his lips had found her breasts.

"W-whatever" she said. A moment later, his mouth captured hers.

Everything was just perfect.

_Three years later._

Anakin forced himself to take a deep breath, and then another and another one. He was on the verge of utter panic. He was panting but he couldn't hear the sound of his heavy breaths; he could only hear the pumping sound of his racing heart in his ears, and feel his entire body electric with adrenaline. He looked down at himself, almost unconsciously. His heart skipped a beat and then started to pump blood in his veins even faster.

He was covered in blood. Panic, real, true panic finally exploded in his head, while he fought the urge to vomit, suddenly conscious of the thickness in the air.

**Hi guys! :) this is the end! But stay tuned, because there is sequel: "Same, old, in-between stories"! The last part was actually an anticipation of the new story which, as you may have guessed, will be darker and a little more problematic for our protagonists –but it will start with some more humorous, lighter chapters, as Same Old Love Story. **

**I thank you all a lot. ****Seriously****. I really appreciate your support and suggestions –which I always take into consideration :) So, yeah, keep to fav, follow or review (reviews make me happy :D) and give a chance to the next story if you liked this one :) **

**Thank you again! **


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